Hollow Beginnings
by PrincessTadashi
Summary: Hiro Takachicho was brought up to believe in only on logic and reason. But when the monster that haunted his dreams for years shows up at the SFIT Expo in the company of a group of teens with supernatural abilities, he suddenly has to reevaluate everything-especially when one of the teens claims to be his long-lost older brother. (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children AU)
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! In honor of Halloween, I thought I'd post the first chapter of this fic today instead of waiting until next Sunday to start it! This AU was inspired by the amazing DragonFanGirl92801-she was the one who suggested a _Miss Peregrine's_ crossover and she and her sister were the ones who came up with the different abilities for everyone. I'm super honored that I was able to bring this story to life, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Happy Halloween!

0o0

 _A party. It always started with a party. So many people-adults (his parents, maybe?), and other kids, all laughing and talking while cheerful music played in the background. It seemed like a happy place, with such a feeling of… Love. Family. Emotions that were now foreign to him. And then everything would change-everything would grow cold and dark, and suddenly there would be the sounds of crashing and screaming. The gentle arms holding him would thrust him behind something soft and heavy-a blanket, or curtains, maybe? The screaming would continue for an interminable time, each shriek sending a terrifying jolt through him. And then the screaming would stop and for one moment he'd think he was safe. But then horrible knife-like tentacles would rip away the fabric holding him, a horrific face looming towards him, deathly pale and featureless save the rows of dagger-like teeth and the writhing tongues like so many snakes reaching out to consume him-_

Hiro awakes, bolting upright in bed, heart pounding like it was trying to break free from his chest. For a full minute he has to wrap his arms tightly around his ribcage, afraid that he would fly apart into a million pieces if he let go. He forces himself to attempt the deep-breathing exercises his therapist had taught him but, as usual, they didn't do much for him. As it is, he almost has another heart attack when he swears that he sees a shadow moving outside his bedroom window. But when no creepy monster comes crashing through the glass, his heart rate and breathing finally return to normal, and he finds a shamed flush crossing his face-really, was he still a child, scared of monsters hiding under the bed? He was fourteen freaking years old, he shouldn't still be having these damn nightmares! And he'd even been doing well for so long-he hadn't had one of these nightmares in longer than he could remember, why were they starting again?

It must be the stress of the Expo tomorrow-or, rather, today-he decides as his head plops back down onto the pillow, blowing his dark bangs (which were desperately in need of a trim) out of his eyes. A lot rode on whether the judges liked his project. There was no way, he knew, that they wouldn't be impressed by his work, but would they be willing to take a chance on letting a fourteen-year-old into a world-renowned university? True, Professor Robert Callaghan, the head of the robotics program and a pioneer in his field, had specifically scouted him, but Hiro couldn't help but feel nervous all the same. If only he had an older sibling or parents he could go to at this time of night to listen to his fears and tell him that everything was going to be alright. But unfortunately he was the only child Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho had ever adopted, and, kind as they tried to be, he had learned the hard way growing up that waking them simply because he had a bad dream was a sure-fire way to get himself grounded. His adopted parents had chosen him because they could tell from early on that he was going to be an extremely bright child-they'd groomed him to be the top performer in all of his classes, and he had more than exceeded their expectations, graduating high school at the tender age of thirteen. Any suggestions from the school board that pushing him so far ahead of his age group academically might have deleterious effects on his emotional and social growth were quickly swept aside as unimportant-emotions weren't something that Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho thought much of. In fact, making decisions based on emotions was something that they tried to discourage at all costs. Logic and reasoning, that's what they believed in, and Hiro's entire upbringing had centered around just those things. Still, all the reasoning in the world couldn't dispel the nightmares that he knew were just that-nightmares. His therapist suggested that maybe they were related to some unresolved childhood trauma, possibly something to do with his birth parents. But given he had been found by some campers in the middle of the woods, miles from anywhere with absolutely no clue as to his identity but the blanket wrapped around him that had the name "Hiro" embroidered on it, there was no way of knowing for sure which parts of his recurring nightmares were actually true and which were just figments of his imagination added over the years. The entire dream was always so _lifelike_ , and it never changed no matter how many times he had it, but who could honestly believe that there had been an actual monster in the room? It had been suggested to him that maybe his brain had created the monster as a way to cover for something more realistic-a human murderer, perhaps. Still, no matter what anyone said about it being a figment of his imagination, figment or no the faceless, snarling creature still haunted his sleeping and sometimes even waking moments, and if years and years of talking about it to various specialists wasn't going to get rid of it, he didn't know what would.

Well, at least he had a temporary respite. Knowing that he probably wouldn't fall asleep for a while now that he was awake, Hiro flips on his bedside lamp and pulls his journal out of the nightstand drawer. After keying in the passcode that only he knew to unlock it, he opens the journal to his last entry and starts sketching away at an idea he'd had for a superhero suit. His parents would probably blow a gasket if they knew he was "wasting his time" on something so frivolous, but this was his escape, and as long as no one found out about it he was perfectly safe indulging in his little fantasy. He finally fell asleep about half an hour later after that, pen rolling out of his hand and onto the bedspread as he drifted off into a peaceful and, this time, mercifully dreamless sleep.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up to the sound of his alarm going off. He hurries to shut it off and then to quickly shut his journal, grateful that his parents hadn't found him like this-if they'd thought he was having another "emotional disturbance", they probably would have given him another lecture on how he shouldn't let his feelings get the better of him and he didn't need one of those this morning. Today was far too important to let it be ruined by a rough start!

He quickly hurries over to his closet and chooses his clothes for the day with care-as professional as they expected him to be at all times, fortunately his parents were pretty lax about his wardrobe, letting him dress for comfort rather than for style. As long as he didn't get stains or holes in his cargo shorts and jeans and kept them relatively de-wrinkled, they let his wardrobe choices slide. As it was, he decides to settle on a pair of his pest khaki cargo shorts, his favorite blue hoodie, and his lucky robot shirt (alright, so maybe luck wasn't something he was supposed to believe in either, but this shirt had gotten him through a lot, and even if it was only a placebo effect at least it did have some sort of positive impact on his attitude and performance!)

After checking his reflection in the mirror and making sure that his journal is safely stashed in his backpack (one never knew when they might get some new source of inspiration!), he heads down the stairs to breakfast.

"Good morning, Hiro," Mrs. Takachicho greets him from where she was blending her morning protein shake as he enters the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes ma'am," Hiro answers, knowing that it would be easier to lie than try to explain the truth.

"Ready for your presentation today?" Mr. Takachicho asks, looking up from the latest copy of his favorite science journal.

"Yes sir," Hiro agrees, sitting down at the table as Mrs. Takachicho brings him over a bowl of bran cereal (it was supposed to help with his digestion, even if it tasted like cardboard.)

"Good lad." Mr. Takachicho flashes him a proud smile over the rim of his coffee mug before taking a sip.

"We're so sorry we can't make it tonight," Mrs. Takachicho adds.

"I understand," Hiro answers, trying not to audibly sigh. "The research you're presenting at the national conference is very important."

"It is," Mr. Takachicho agrees, apparently not noticing or choosing to ignore the lackluster tone in the teen's voice.

"But we look forward to hearing all about how your presentation goes," Mrs. Takachicho says gently.

"I'll do my best to make you proud, tonight and when I'm studying at SFIT," Hiro promises.

"Speaking of, what time does your bus leave for San Fransokyo?" Mr. Takachicho asks, glancing at the clock on the wall.

"In twenty minutes," Hiro answers, realizing that he was running a bit behind. He quickly finishes his cereal and then slings his backpack over his shoulder. Fortunately early setup had been yesterday, so he didn't have to worry about hauling all of his supplies onto the bus with him (his parents had helped him drive those over in their car the day before.)

"I'll see you Wednesday," Hiro tells his parents, going over to peck his mother on the cheek and then give his father a more formal handshake.

"We're so excited to see how you place," Mrs. Takachicho says with a warm smile.

"Make us proud," Mr. Takachicho adds.

"I will," Hiro promises, waving before heading out the front door and towards the bus stop. As he heads down the front walk, he glances back at the house. For some reason, he had this odd feeling in the pit of his stomach that he might never see this place again for a very long time, if ever. But no. He shakes his head to clear away the ridiculous thought. The dream from last night must still be messing with him, and he couldn't let that happen-not today, it was far too important. He shoves away any lingering doubts and dark thoughts and heads towards the bus stop with as much confidence as he can muster-tonight was the first night of the rest of his life, and no childish nightmares were going to stop him!

The Expo was, in a word, breathtaking. Hiro found himself getting easily lost in the Wonderland-esque maze of booths and displays, all boasting amazing innovations in tech. Nothing came close to his own project, but that didn't keep him from admiring the work that was on display-besides, what could it hurt to scope out the competition?

He was just leaving a booth boasting knew technology for biometric body scans when he finds himself accidentally bumping into someone. Good manners had been ingrained into him for as long as he could remember, and he looks up to apologize to the individual he had collided with, only to let out a loud gasp of mixed shock and recognition.

"P-Professor Callaghan!"

"Well, hello there, Hiro," the professor answers, smiling warmly down at him. "I'm glad you could make it tonight."

"I-I wouldn't miss it for the world, sir!" Hiro stammers, trying not to geek out over getting to actually speak to his idol again.

"I'm quite eager to see your presentation-I'm sure you have something wonderful prepared for us," Professor Callaghan says.

"I do!" Hiro agrees eagerly before quickly correcting himself. "I-I mean, yes sir! I hope it will be impressive enough for you and all of the judges to consider me as a serious applicant for your program!"

"If the samples of your work that you've already shown us are any indication, I have no doubt that it will be," Professor Callaghan answers with a friendly chuckle before gesturing to the next booth. "Well, I must be continuing on with my rounds, but I greatly look forward to seeing your project."

"Y-Yes sir! I mean, thank you, sir! I mean-" Hiro trails off awkwardly, wincing at the fact that he was obviously babbling. Fortunately, if Professor Callaghan had noticed, he didn't mention it, instead just saying,

"Best of luck to you, Mr. Hamada" before entering the next cubicle.

Hiro was about to try to call some sort of goodbye after him, only to frown as the professor's words set in. Wait, had he just called him Mr. _Hamada_? That was a pretty far cry from his actual last name, Takachicho. Still, there were a lot of incoming students, surely it must be hard to keep all of their names straight. At least he recognized his face and had his first name right-that was the important thing, right? But as he makes his way to the stage when his time to present arrives, he can't help but feel (as ridiculous as it was to think this) that it's yet another dark omen that was hanging over what should have been one of the most amazing nights of his life.

If it was an omen, at least it didn't affect the beginning of his presentation. Despite a minor issue with some microphone feedback and initial jitters, the moment that he directed the tiny robots that he'd made for his project (aptly called microbots) to swarm through the Expo hall and up to the stage using the neurocranial transmitter that controlled them, he knew that he had the judges and his entire audience like putty in his hands. And after demonstrating the many uses of the bots-construction, transportation, and a myriad of other helpful purposes-he could tell from the looks on the judges faces that he had just guaranteed himself a spot in the SFIT robotics program. He had about five seconds after finishing his presentation and bowing to bask in the glory that he'd just achieved. But then those five seconds ended and everything went to hell.

At first he thought he was just imagining things-that the dark shadow moving along the wall was just that, a really big shadow. As the shadow suddenly moved off the wall, taking a physical form and starting to make its way through the crowd, not seeming to notice or care as it collided with and then shoved aside countless people, though, Hiro knew that it was no shadow-it was kriffing real. Fear clogged his throat. No-this was a dream! It had to be a dream. He was going to wake up in his bed and everything was going to be back to normal. Or maybe he was just finally actually losing it and seeing things-no one else seemed to be screaming about seeing a monster in their midst! But when he sees the beast raising one of its scythe-like arms as if preparing to cut Professor Callaghan right in two, he has no other choice but to cry out, "B-Behind you!"

As if moving on instinct rather than actually thinking about what he was doing, the professor ducks down just in time to avoid the creatures hands or tentacles or whatever it had. No one else seemed to notice that Callaghan had just almost been taken out by what looked like some sort of horror movie space alien, except a few teens standing in the crowd who all looked in the man's direction. Wait, could they see it too? Suddenly the one who looked like the oldest of the odd group looks towards him and cries, "Hiro, where is it?"

W-Wait, how did this guy know his name?! Hiro was momentarily petrified by fear and confusion, both of the fact that the creature from his nightmares was physically right here in front of him and that a complete and total stranger was acting like he somehow knew him. Still, when the monster makes to swipe at the older man again, the teen genius manages to get out, "T-There! Where there's the gap in the crowd!" The thing seemed to take up physical space and was creating a gap sized space around it as it moved.

"Got it!" The other man calls to him, before issuing a series of instructions, his eyes never leaving Hiro as he does so. "Honey, get some goo or powder on the Hollow-make it visible! Fred, GoGo, I need you on defense! I'm going to create a diversion to get all these people out of here-'Sabi, you're going to have to help me get them out of here in an orderly fashion!"

As if by clockwork, the small group of teens who seemed to actually have noticed the monster in their midst swings into action. The tall blond girl, as if out of thin air, starts spraying the monster with some kind of thick goo. The short biker girl and the more gangly looking blond guy next to her start moving towards the monster. The leader finally takes his eyes off of Hiro and runs over to the wall where he-holy shit, had he just lit a fire in his bare hands? No, it must be an optical illusion-still, he was definitely doing something with the fire near a small red box on the wall. Moments later his "distraction" became clear as all the fire alarms in the building start going off. Almost immediately a wave of panic starts to spread through the crowd and there's a mass exodus for the nearest exits. The tall guy with the dreadlocks tries to help direct them towards the proper exits, but it's clear that his assistance isn't needed and he quickly returns to his friends who were currently fighting the monster. The blond girl kept dousing the monster with more and more pink goo which hardened around it like a shell. Unfortunately, the goo wouldn't hold for long-the creature kept breaking through it after being held down for only moments. Still, at least it was slowing it down long enough for the rest of the people to escape. Hiro wasn't sure what these other guys thought they were doing trying to fight this thing. That is, not until the blond guy suddenly transforms into what looks freakishly like a dragon.

"Okay, I'm dreaming-I am definitely dreaming," Hiro whispers to himself over and over again as the guy-turned-dragon starts breathing fire at the monster, only to be joined shortly thereafter by the group's leader, who starts adding his own firepower with flames that seemed to be coming directly from his hands. And when the guy with the dreads comes over to join them and has what looked like lasers coming out of his eyes when he removes his glasses? Oh yeah. He was convinced that he was either going to be waking up any second now or else that he was heading straight for a padded room. In fact, he almost wasn't surprised when the leader of the group suddenly shouts to the short, dark haired girl, "Get Hiro out of here!" If he was hallucinating, sure, why wouldn't the random stranger know his name and be talking about him?  
When the girl suddenly appears at his side and picks him up and then, moments later, has him outside the building before racing back inside in less than the time it took to blink, though, it's a little harder to believe that he was just seeing things given he had actually been physically _moved_. And the fact that all the others outside were crying out in alarm because they could see what was apparently very real smoke wafting off of the building, he started to think that maybe he wasn't as crazy as he was feeling. But how did one explain the giant monster and the apparently supernatural abilities of that group of teens? It defied all sound laws of science and logic! And yet…

"Hiro! Are you alright?"

The teen practically squeaks in terror as he feels a heavy hand on his shoulder, only to flush slightly when he looks up and see Professor Callaghan standing behind him.

"S-Sir- In there- W-Was that-?" he stammers.

"That," Professor Callaghan answers, his voice and expression calm but just the tiniest hint of tension in his tone, "is what is called a Hollowgast-a Hollow, for short."

"A-A Hollow?" Hiro says, repeating the word to make sure he hadn't misheard.

"Yes," Professor Callaghan agrees, his eyes on the Expo building even as he speaks to the teen. "They're mostly gone now, thanks to the efforts of some rather brave Peculiars not too long ago, but there are still one or two lurking about in back corners, and we believe that this one has been stalking you for quite some time. We've managed to keep him off your trail for a while now, fighting him as best we can, but tonight we set the bait and it's time we finally put a stop to him once and for all."

"I-I was bait?" Hiro whispers, eyes going wide-most of what the older man was saying was making absolutely no sense, but the idea that apparently he'd been used as some sort of lure for a monster? That was definitely not the type of reassuring thing that he needed to hear right now.

"Forgive me," Professor Callaghan says gently. "You weren't the bait-or, at least not the sole bait. Having a full family of Peculiars in one place was more than any Hollow could resist, and it was there as much for us as it was for you."

"P-Peculiars? What does that even mean?" Hiro asks, beginning to feel frustrated-the more he was told, the less he felt he understood. If anything, he was even more confused now than he was when they'd started talking.

"All in good time," Professor Callaghan replies. "I promise that we will explain everything to you, but right now we need to focus on-"

Suddenly there was the sound of a loud "CRACK" which causes Hiro to jump and the professor to frown deeply.

"That was either very good, or very bad," he sighs.

"H-How will we know?" Hiro asks uncertainly.

"We'll know soon enough depending on who or what comes out of there," Professor Callaghan sighs, sounding more like a seasoned war veteran than a teacher of robotics at the moment, before offering the younger boy his hand. "Come."

"Come? Come where? I'm not going anywhere with you until I get some answers!" Hiro cries, pulling away from him.

"Hiro, as I said-" Professor Callaghan starts to answer, only to pause as his phone starts going off. Within moments, he has it out of his pocket and is answering it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Professor Callaghan?" Hiro hears a voice that sounded oddly familiar but completely foreign at the same time answering. "W-We did it! It's done! Wasabi brought a beam down on it and staked it right through, and if that wasn't enough Fred and I made sure it was incinerated. It won't be bothering any more Peculiars ever again."  
"Wonderful!" Professor Callaghan smiles in relief. "You all did an excellent job. Can you make it safely out of there?"

"Abigail just showed up and she's portaling us out of here, so we're good!" the other voice replies before asking softly, "H-Hiro-is he?"

"He's with me," Professor Callaghan confirms. "Although I think he has a lot of questions that you might be the best one to answer."

"Of course," the other voice answers, sounding tired but hopeful. "Can you bring him to meet us outside the entrance to the loop?"

"I can try, but I'm not sure he trusts me enough to follow me anywhere," Professor Callaghan replies, glancing down at Hiro who only gave him a stone faced expression in reply, determined not to give him the satisfaction of seeing any more of his emotions.

"That is understandable, all things considered," the voice sighs. "All right-can you at least keep him there? I'll have Abigail portal the others over to the loop and I'll come to you."

"I think I can manage that," Professor Callaghan agrees, adding for Hiro's benefit, "provided Hiro knows that he will be getting the answers to his questions."

"He will definitely be getting his answers and then some," the voice answers wryly. "I'll meet you by the back entrance."

"We'll do our best to meet you there," Professor Callaghan confirms before hanging up and turning towards Hiro. "So-do you think you'd be willing to walk a short distance, at least, to get your answers?"

"I-I suppose so…" Hiro answers, still keeping his guard up. "But if you try anything-"

"No funny business," Professor Callaghan answers, raising his right hand as if swearing a solemn oath. "On my honor."

"...Okay, fine," Hiro sighs, knowing that this was probably his only chance to get an explanation. "Lead the way, then."

"A wise decision." Professor Callaghan flashes him a warm smile before heading off towards the side of the building (which, surprisingly enough, appeared to be smoking considerably less now) just as the fire trucks start arriving.

Hiro follows along in silence, both to keep up his show of stoicism and because he honestly wasn't sure what to say or ask right now. What he'd seen in the last half an hour defied all explanation, and yet it was all too real to be some sort of trick or practical joke. He could only hope that whoever this person that Callaghan had been talking to on the phone would finally give him some answers.

The silent trek comes to a stop at the back of the building where there was a nondescript black door which Hiro could only assume was a fire exit given it looked like it could only be opened from the inside. He wondered how long they were going to have to wait for their mystery guest to arrive, and, as if sensing his thoughts, the door suddenly blows open. Moments later the leader of the teens from earlier comes out, appearing completely unscathed by the flames surrounding him.

If Hiro was just a tiny bit impressed, Callaghan was just as much if not moreso displeased.

"Tadashi Hamada, it's bad enough that you and Fred probably burned down half of the Expo hall defeating the Hollow, do you have to continue the damage just so you can show off?"

"Sorry, _sensei_ ," the leader answers, not seeming quite as apologetic as his words indicated. Still, he turns back towards the open door and, as if by magic, the flames disappear. "I have to try to make a good first impression with my otouto, right?" he adds as he walks down the steps, coming to a step in front of Hiro.

"Your what?" Hiro asks, gathering that this guy was referring to him and wondering why the hell he'd been acting like they had a special connection all evening when he was sure they'd never met before in their lives.

"Hiro-it's me, Tadashi," the older man answers, dropping all pretense of bravado, his tone and expression softening as he lowers himself to the other teen's level. "Please tell me that you at least remember my name?"

Hiro shakes his head, having the disconcerting feeling as he looks into the man's eyes that he'd seen them somewhere before. "N-No, I don't…"

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised-you were only three at the time, and we've both grown a lot since then," Tadashi sighs quietly. "I probably wouldn't have recognized you when we finally found you if you didn't still have that messy raven's nest… You never did like brushing your hair, even back then…"

"W-Who are you?" Hiro demands, the uncomfortable feeling that had been growing in his stomach since he'd seen the man earlier like maybe somehow they did know each other threatening to overwhelm him.

"Hiro, I'm your _niisan_ ," Tadashi answers, gently taking one of the younger boy's hands in his own. "Your big brother."


	2. Chapter 2

Hiro's brain pretty much froze at that-big brother? He didn't have a brother-did he? Technically he had been found when he was only about three years old, so there was the potential that he had had a sibling prior to that. But if this guy really was his brother and apparently knew where he was all this time, why hadn't he come forward before now? Did he not want him?

All the questions racing around in Hiro's head are suddenly cut off when he realizes that the hand that Tadashi was holding was growing hot-very hot, almost painfully so…

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Tadashi cries as if suddenly realizing something, quickly letting go of Hiro's hand and scrambling for the set of black gloves in his back pocket. He practically yanks them on before turning his attention back to the younger boy. "D-Did I hurt you? Let me see!"

"I, uh…" Hiro honestly wasn't sure how to respond to that, and even if he had been able to form a coherent answer the older man was already inspecting his hand.

"Thank goodness, it doesn't look too bad," he sighs before quickly removing what looked like a small first aid kit from the pocket of his blazer and pulling out a small packet which seemed to be full of some sort of cream when he tore it open.

"I totally forgot that I wasn't wearing my gloves," Tadashi continues as he carefully starts massaging the cream into the younger boy's palm. "I almost always have them on, so I wasn't even thinking about how I could accidentally burn you…"

"W-What is up with your hands?" Hiro finally manages to get out, forming his first coherent question. "T-That can't be healthy for you to be burning up like that, have you gone to a doctor-?"

"This isn't something a doctor can fix, otouto," Tadashi chuckles, flashing him a wry smile. "It's my peculiarity."

"Your what?" Hiro had heard Professor Callaghan use that word earlier, but it didn't sound like it meant the same thing as the definition he had in his head.

"My peculiarity," Tadashi repeats, removing one of his gloves and then, to Hiro's utter amazement, igniting a small flame out of thin air in his palm.

"H-How are you doing that?" Hiro demands, trying to spot any sort of technology or anything that could be producing the flame, but it was just… There.

"I was born this way," Tadashi answers with a slight shrug, pulling his glove back on. "I'm not the first in our family to have it, and I probably won't be the last."

"O-Our family…" Hiro repeats quietly before asking, "H-How do I know that we're actually related? That you're not just making this up?"

"What reason would I have to be making this up?" Tadashi returns calmly, as if unphased by the accusation.

"I-I don't know! Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho, my adopted parents, are world-renowned scientists! Maybe you're working for someone who has a grudge against them and you're trying to take me away to get at them somehow!" Hiro shoots back.

"Fair enough," Tadashi answers with a nod. "I'm sure with time I could provide you suitable evidence, but for now-does this look familiar?" He pulls a golden locket out from underneath his shirt and flips it open so that Hiro could see what was inside. The teen leans forward, only to let out a quiet gasp when he sees a picture of two little boys together. The one was most likely Tadashi, and the other one was undeniably him-he'd had the same dandelion fluff hair even as a baby. Seeing their images together, the family resemblance-they had the same eyes, at the very least-struck him, and he looks up at the older man in quiet shock.

"Y-You're really my brother?" he finally whispers.

"Yes!" Tadashi agrees with a relieved grin. "You have no idea how hard it's been being away from you for all these years…"

"W-Where were you?" Hiro asks, his surprise and even shock at having discovered a new family member is quickly replaced by anger. "I-If you knew where I was, why didn't you come and get me?"

"Hiro, I wanted to-I wanted to so badly," Tadashi answers softly, his eyes full of pain. "But I didn't even find you until less than a year ago-I didn't even know if you were alive-and when we finally did find you, you were already in a family and I didn't think it would be right to take you away from them, especially if you were Normal… Still, when I found out that you were getting stalked by a Hollow, I knew that you must be a Peculiar so we came up with a way to make sure that the monster would be destroyed and so we could finally come talk to you-so we could invite you to come live with us!"

"W-Who is 'us'?" Hiro asks, head whirling as he tries to process all of this new information which was honestly not making much sense.

"I guess you don't remember the others either," Tadashi sighs. "But there was a whole community of Peculiars who lived here in the city for a while, and most of them, including our parents, had children around the same ages. They'd hoped that maybe we could actually all live out our lives a normally as possible, without having to go into a Loop, but when the Hollows attacked that day, Aunt Cass had to help us all escape and put us into a Loop. We didn't even realize you were gone until it was too late. W-We thought we'd lost you forever, that the Hollows had…"

"P-Peculiars? Loops? You're not making any sense!" Hiro cries, beginning to feel frustrated. "You're talking, but I have no idea what you're actually trying to say!"

"Sorry," Tadashi apologizes, flushing slightly. "I-If you come back with me, I'm sure Aunt Cass can explain better than I can-"

"I'm not going anywhere until I finally get some sort of explanation that actually makes sense!" Hiro answers stubbornly.

"O-Okay," Tadashi agrees with a quiet sigh. "What exactly do you want to know?"

"First off-what the hell is a Peculiar?" Hiro asks.

"Peculiars are people like us," Tadashi explains. "People with unusual abilities. I have my fire. My b-friend, Fred, can turn into a dragon. GoGo has super speed, and so on and so forth. Professor Callaghan has some pretty awesome PK going on." He flashes a smile at the older man.

"PK?" Hiro looks at the professor in confusion.

"The more official term is psychokinetic abilities," Professor Callghan answers with a quiet sigh, not seeming completely pleased that Tadashi had put him under the spotlight like this.

"What are-Holy frick!" Hiro lets out a quiet gasp as he suddenly spots several small objects-rocks, bits of litter, and the like-floating off the ground and hanging in the air as if suspended there by wires. "H-How are you doing that?" The teen hurries over to examine one of the stones, running his hands over and under it but finding no cause for its floatation, even gently poking it and sending it lazily drifting through the air.

"I've done years of scientific research regarding the phenomena," Professor Callaghan replies. "And I have yet to come up with an actual explanation. I have some theories I could share with you, but right now isn't the time for that."

"Okay, so granted, these 'powers' are real," Hiro says as the small bits of debris fall to the ground, looking back at the other teen who appeared to be fighting a smirk. "But you keep saying that I'm a Peculiar too, and unless you count my above-average intelligence…"

"No, it's not that, although that is extremely impressive," Tadashi answers. "We honestly didn't think that you had abilities until recently, but then we discovered that you could see Hollows, and that is a special Peculiarity all its own-something that only a very few Peculiars have!"

"W-What exactly are Hollows?" Hiro asks, shivering slightly at the memory of the terrifying beasts that had haunted his dreams for years and were apparently actually very real.

"That… Is a very long story, one I probably shouldn't be telling you this late at night," Tadashi sighs. "Suffice it to say that they were once Peculiars who went very, very bad, and to try to become human again they… well, they attack and consume the eyes of other Peculiars."

"T-They what?" Hiro gasps, fear and disgust churning into a sickening sensation in his stomach.

"But the important thing is that they're almost all gone now!" Tadashi quickly hurries to reassure him, placing a warm hand on his shoulder. "A group of Peculiars destroyed almost all of them, including their leaders. There are probably only one or two scattered ones left, and, thanks to you, there's one less of them!"

"B-But how do we know that we're safe?" Hiro asks, trembling at the thought that there might still be others of those creatures out there.

"That's where the Loop comes in-it protects us, like different Loops all over the world protect other Peculiars," Tadashi explains.

"What exactly is a 'Loop'?" Hiro queries, relaxing slightly at the idea that there were safe places.

"'Loop' is short for time loop," Tadashi explains. "Have you ever seen the movie _Groundhog Day_ , or any other movie where someone lives the same day over and over again?"

"Yeah," Hiro agrees with a nod.

"Well, it's like that, only there are a bunch of us living together who are all living the same day over, and the time loop is controlled by Aunt Cass-she's our Ymbryne," Tadashi answers.

"What's a Y-Ymb…?" Hiro tries to repeat the word but can't quite manage it.

"Ymbryne," Tadashi puts in helpfully. "It means that she can manipulate time-all Ymbrynes are in charge of protecting Peculiar children. When a Peculiar is born, once they start showing a Peculiarity, they're usually sent to a special home for children who are like them-someplace they'll be safe in a world that can be so cruel to anyone who dares to be 'different'. In the old days we probably would have been burned at the stake if we'd been discovered-and many were. Nowadays, we'd get locked up to be studied by scientists. So to keep from being discovered, we live in homes, usually in at least semi-secluded locations, and are watched over by our Ymbryne. At the end of every day, the Ymbryne resets time back 24-hours, and that's our Loop. If something goes wrong during that day and we get discovered, then we get to safety and, once time is set back, then it's like nothing ever happened-we're safe again. We never age, and it's kind of like we just get to live forever with our closest friends."

"I… Think that makes sense…" Hiro agrees slowly, taking in all of this new information. "But wait, you said you were kids when you went into the Loop-why do you look like an adult now?"

"Ah, now that's an interesting story," Tadashi says wryly. "You see, if you exit the Loop you're in for more than 24-hours, time catches up to you and you age for the same number of years that have passed in the real world since you entered the Loop. You can imagine how that could be horrible for someone who's been in a Loop that is, say, over a hundred years old."

"T-There are Loops that old?" Hiro gasps.

"Oh yes, there are a few that survived the Hollow attacks," Tadashi agrees.

"All right," Hiro says, trying not to think too much about it for fear that he might sprain his brain. "So, if you were a kid when you went into the Loop but you're an adult now-I guess you must have left the Loop for more than 24-hours?"

"Indeed we did," Tadashi agrees with a nod. "I told you about those kids who took out the Hollows? Well, leading up to that, there were some Hollows who were going around attacking Loops and stealing their Ymbrynes in order to try to siphon their powers while leaving the children to… Well, you can imagine. A Hollow found our Loop, but Aunt Cass managed to draw it away. When she didn't come back, we all left the Loop to try to find her and, well, we ran out of our 24-hours before she could get back. We all aged a good ten years, which is how long we'd been in the Loop."

"That sounds… Unpleasant," Hiro says uncertainly, not really sure how to respond to that.

"It was. If you can imagine going through puberty all in one night, well-yeah, I won't give you the details," Tadashi sighs. "Fortunately Aunt Cass was all right in the end, and she managed to find all of us and tell us the good news about how all-or, we thought all-of the Hollows had been destroyed. Of course she was a bit shocked to find out that all of us were at least in our late teens, and we had some serious discussions about whether we should even create another Loop or just try to live with the Normals. After a couple near accidents, though, we decided to create another Loop, although we do keep in regular contact with our liaison to the outside world-Professor Callaghan." Tadashi flashes the older man a smile. "He keeps us updated on the goings on in the rest of the world, and he helps us keep an eye out for new Peculiars while researching possible causes for our abilities at the university in his spare time. Aunt Cass keeps telling him that he should retire and come live with us in the Loop, but…"

"Someday I will, but for right now my place is here," Professor Callaghan answers firmly. "When the time is right, I will come live with all of you, but for the moment I'm still needed here."

"He comes and visits us almost every day, at least," Tadashi says after letting out a tiny sigh-it was obvious that they'd been fighting this battle for a while. "His daughter, Abigail lives with us, and we all enjoy getting to hear his news-Aunt Cass especially..."

"That is enough of that," Professor Callaghan puts in firmly, and Hiro can't help but wonder based on the smirk on the younger man's face if there was something more to those words than what they appeared to be on the surface.

"So, um, how exactly did you guys find me?" Hiro thinks to asks after a few moments of uncomfortable silence-it was one of the few loose ends to the story that he was still waiting to hear the answer too.

"Ah-that was actually a happy coincidence thanks to your academic success," Professor Callaghan answers, seeming grateful for the change of conversation topics. "As Tadashi said, I keep an eye out in the news for any children who might be Peculiars, although I haven't found many recently. Still, when I saw the article about your graduating high school at age thirteen, I thought that maybe you might have a Peculiarity. I brought the clipping back to the Cafe, which is where all of the others stay-"

"And I recognized you from your picture!" Tadashi puts in excitedly. "Well, that and your name-Hiro isn't the most common name, even around here, and I just knew that it had to be you!"

"Yes," Professor Callaghan agrees. "I started doing some digging into your background, and when I discovered that you had been found abandoned right around the same time as the Hollow attack and were the correct age, I thought that maybe Tadashi had a point-that it could be you. Still, I told him that you were in a stable home, and that pulling you out of there and trying to introduce you to the world of Peculiars if you were yourself Normal might be harmful to your wellbeing."

"Which is why I didn't come get your right away," Tadashi adds. "Otherwise I would have been over there to bring you home in a heartbeat!"

"So, how did you figure out that I had a Peculiarity?" Hiro asks curiously, feeling something warm and oddly comforting in his chest at the assertion that he had actual family who apparently did really want him.

"I wasn't sure at first," Professor Callaghan answers. "That's why I came to visit you, on the pretense of scouting you for SFIT."

"So that's why you came…" Hiro says softly, feeling oddly enough just a tiny bit let down that it wasn't his amazing SAT scores and other academic achievements that thad gotten him the special notice.

"Oh, have no fear, I would have still wanted to have you participate in the Expo even if you hadn't turned out to have a Peculiarity," Professor Callaghan tells him, as if reading his thoughts.

Hiro couldn't help but smile at that-well, that was something, at least!

"Still-how did you figure out that I could see Hollows when you couldn't see them yourself?" he asks curiously.

"Well, we can sometimes see the shadows of Hollows, but I have a slightly more accurate way to be able to find them," Professor Callaghan answers. "As you have gathered, Hollows do take up physical space, even if they can't be seen. And as a person with psychokinetic abilities, I have a very strong connection with my surroundings, in particular the physical matter that makes it up. I am very attuned to everything in my general vicinity, and even if I can't see the Hollows I can often feel their presence even if they are not visible. Hollows have an ability to 'sniff out' Peculiars outside of Loops, and as one of the few Peculiars who actually lives outside of a Loop, I've been the target of Hollows before and I've mercifully managed to escape all of them-even helped to bring about the end of a few. The day I came to visit you, there was actually a Hollow outside your house-I'm not sure if it was after me or you, but probably the smell of two Peculiars together was quite appetizing to it."

"I-I remember that!" Hiro's eyes go wide at the memory. "I thought I saw something outside the window, but I just figured I was seeing things since I was so stressed out trying to impress you!"

"I saw that you saw it," Professor Callaghan says softly. "I felt it outside the window, and when I realized that you could see it, I realized that you must have been born with the rare ability to see them."

"W-Wow…" Hiro says softly. "So, what happened with that Hollow since it obviously didn't eat either of us?"

"Unfortunately, something spooked it and caused it to run off before I could try to go after it," Professor Callaghan sighs. "After that sighting, we didn't like the idea of you being on your own with a Hollow running around, so we all took turns keeping an eye on you."

"We took shifts so that none of us were outside of the loop for longer than twenty four hours but so that way we could make sure you stayed safe," Tadashi adds. "We thought we had it a couple times, but it always managed to get away. That's when we had the idea for the Expo-not only did we feel like you might need more protection, being in such a public place on your own, but having all of us together was sure to draw the Hollow out. And our plan worked-it showed up, and we destroyed it!"

"So I'm safe now?" Hiro asks, wanting to make sure that he was hearing him correctly.

"Given we haven't heard any other reports of Hollows anywhere near here? Definitely," Tadashi agrees. "And, even if there were any, you'll be safe in the Loop with us!"

"W-Wait-you're asking me to come live with you in the Loop?" Hiro stammers.

"Yes, of course!" Tadashi answers eagerly, only for his smile to fade slightly when he sees the expression on the younger boy's face. "D-Don't you want to?"

"I… I-It honestly sounds pretty amazing…" Hiro says uncertainly. "It's just… What about my adopted parents?"

"What about them?" Tadashi cries. "They're not your real family! I am, and I've had to live without you for eleven freaking years!"

"Tadashi!" Professor Callaghan says warningly.

Tadashi scowls in response but bites his tongue all the same.

"We're not saying that you have to make a decision immediately," the professor tells Hiro, turning towards the younger boy. "And, if you choose to stay with your current guardians, we will completely respect your decision. I think all that Tadashi's asking for is for you to give us an opportunity to see what it might be like coming to live in the Loop. Does giving it one day sound fair to you?"

"Well…" Hiro considers this. Honestly, even though his adopted parents weren't terrible, he'd never felt particularly close to them. Tadashi, though-it was obvious just how much the older man cared about him, even though they hadn't seen each other in so long and he barely knew anything about him. And going to live someplace where there were people with lots of cool powers? It did sound like a lot of fun-almost like something out of one of the comic books he sometimes snuck into the library to read when he was supposed to be doing homework. Callaghan said that he didn't have to make a decision right away-that he just had to stay for one day and he could leave if it turned out he didn't like it. What could one twenty-four hour period really hurt?

"Okay," Hiro finally says aloud. "I'll do it."

"You will?" Tadashi asks, his whole face lighting up.

"Sure-I mean, at least a visit couldn't hurt, right?" Hiro agrees with a slight smile, unable to fight the tiny bit of warmth in his chest as he sees just how excited his brother was at the idea of him coming with him, even for a short period of time. Wow… Brother. He actually had a brother. That was going to take some getting used to-whether for better or worse, only time would tell.

"Let's go then!" Tadashi says with a grin. "I know the others will be super excited to see you too!"

"I'm sure it will be… Interesting to meet them," Hiro says diplomatically-he'd never really been one for making friends, but he was willing to give these "others" that Tadashi kept referring to the benefit of the doubt.

"Shall I have Abigail come pick you up?" Professor Callaghan asks, seeming to enjoy watching the two brothers together.

"That would be awesome, yeah," Tadashi agrees eagerly before turning to Hiro and explaining, "She has teleportation abilities. She helps us out a lot when we need to get places fast."

"Interesting," Hiro says thoughtfully as Professor Callaghan pulls out his phone to start making the necessary calls.

"You're going to love it at the Cafe, I just know it, otouto!" Tadashi tells him eagerly.

"Otouto-what does that mean?" Hiro asks, realizing that he'd heard the older man say it multiple times but he still didn't know what it meant.

"It's Japanese for 'little brother'," Tadashi explains to him. "When we were kids, I'd call you that and you'd call me 'nii-chan' or 'niisan'. I-I don't know if you're too old for nicknames and stuff now, but if you still wanted to use it…"

"Um…" Hiro wasn't sure how to respond to that. A part of him-a very small, hopeful part of him-did want to be able to embrace this older man as his brother and to indulge in everything that came with that kind of a relationship. But for ten years now, he had been raised in a home where those types of feelings had been everything but absolutely forbidden. Even if he knew that he could fully trust Tadashi-and right now, he didn't-he wasn't sure that he even knew how to receive, let alone reciprocate, those kinds of emotions.

"Abigail should be here for you any minute now," Professor Callaghan says as he hangs up his phone, providing the teen an easy out from having to give an actual answer at the moment.

"Great, thank you!" Tadashi flashes the older man a grateful look before glancing down at the younger teen. "You ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Hiro answers a bit nervously. He had no idea what exactly he was getting himself into, but he could only hope that it would be better than where he was coming from.


	3. Chapter 3

Approximately thirty seconds after Callaghan hung up the phone, there was a small flash of light, and then suddenly a petite woman with medium brown hair dressed in jeans and a fitted t-shirt was standing in the alleyway.

"Hi Dad. Hey, Dashi," she says, greeting the other two adults with an informal nod before turning towards Hiro and smiling down at him. "So-you must be Hiro, huh?"

"U-Um… Yeah, that's me," Hiro agrees, not really sure how to respond to her-at least she wasn't trying to make any sort of physical contact with him like some fawning adults did, but he hadn't exactly had anyone he could even consider a friend before (his dedication to studying hadn't given him much time for socializing, and being a genius had made him something of a social pariah even if he had tried to reach out to anyone.) Still, she didn't seem like an immediate threat, so he forces himself to calm down, reminding himself that she wasn't one of the bullies from school who had made his life a living hell for all those years.

"Well, it's good to see you again-or, at least face-to-face," Abigail tells him, apparently sensing his slight discomfort and keeping a respectful distance between them. "I kind of saw you from a distance when I was on patrol duty, but not up close. You're a lot taller than the last time I really saw you-you were just a baby back then!"

"I, um… I wish I could say that I remember what you looked like back then, but…" Hiro says uncertainly.

"He doesn't really remember anything from before the attack," Tadashi supplies.

"Understandably." Abigail nods her head. "He was only three at the time."

"Exactly!"

"Yeah…" Hiro flashes the two an awkward smile. Part of him was glad that they understood, but the other part was already starting to get frustrated that everyone kept treating him like he was still a three-year-old child who knew nothing. Admittedly he didn't really know anything about their world, but he knew plenty about the one he'd grown up in, thank you very much!

"So, you guys ready to go?" Abigail asks, interrupting his thoughts.

"I think so," Hiro answers, deciding to let his frustrations go for the moment. "So, um… How exactly does this work? Tadashi said you can… teleport stuff?"

"Yep!" Abigail agrees with a grin. "It's pretty simple-as long as something it touching me, I can bring it along with me when I teleport."

"Interesting… So, how far exactly can you teleport?" Hiro asks curiously.

"Not halfway around the world, if that's what you're thinking," Abigail chuckles. "The farthest I've ever gone is fifty miles, and that took so much out of me that I couldn't leave bed for a week!"

"And that is why you are never allowed to do that again, young lady," Professor Callaghan puts in firmly.

"Aw, c'mon Dad, it was for science!" Abigail chuckles.

"I don't care if it's 'for science', hurting yourself for progress is not the type of progress you want to have," Professor Callaghan tells her firmly.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Abigail sighs. "Look, I promise that I will never try anything that drastic ever again, okay?"

"Thank you." Professor Callaghan nods seeming to relax slightly. "Now the three of you had better get to the Cafe if you don't want to miss the Reset."

"Aren't you coming with us?" Abigail asks, frowning.

"I wish I could, sweetheart, but with everything that happened tonight, it will look extremely suspicious if I just disappear since I was one of the people in charge of this event," Professor Callaghan sighs.

"I guess…" Abigail crosses her arms over her chest, a tiny pout on her lips.

"I'll be sure to come over first thing in the morning or late tonight if I can get away, all right?" Professor Callaghan tells her gently, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug and pecking her forehead.

"Okay Dad," Abigail answers, her frustration visibly fading as she nuzzles into the contact.

For a moment, Hiro felt an odd pang of jealousy in his chest. His own adopted parents had never treated him like that-he was lucky if he even got a hug maybe once a month, if that! He finds his gaze shifting over to Tadashi, who was watching the scene with a small smile on his face. As much as he wasn't sure how much he could fully trust the older man, he couldn't help but wonder if he was the type of person who would actually care about him like that. Someone in the back of his mind, a dusty memory of being held in someone's arms and feeling incredibly safe and loved stirs, and he couldn't help but wonder if it had been Tadashi or someone in his family who had given him that type of affection…

Before he could pursue that train of thought, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looks up to see Tadashi looking down at him with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"You okay?" the older man asks gently.

For one minute, still caught up in that long-forgotten memory and the emotions from all the craziness of tonight, Hiro almost wishes that his brother would hold him like Callaghan was holding Abigail. But no. He quickly shakes his head to clear away those thoughts-that was way too weird, and, besides, he wasn't willing to let himself get that vulnerable with anyone unless he knew for sure that they could be trusted-he'd been burned too many times before.

"Yeah, fine," he agrees, forcing a smile onto his face.

"All right…" Tadashi doesn't seem fully convinced, but he lets it go, something Hiro is grateful for. "You ready to get going, then?"

"Sure," Hiro agrees, an oddly excited feeling in his chest despite knowing almost nothing about where he was headed.

"Okay." Tadashi flashes him a quick smile before firmly taking hold of his hand and then Abigail's.

"Holding on tight?" Abigail asks them.

"We're good," Tadashi reassures her, his grip tightening just a tiny bit around Hiro's.

"Let's go, then!" Abigail beams at them and then, before Hiro even has time to blink, there's a flash of light and the feeling like they were being sucked through a vacuum. Only moments after that they're standing in someplace totally different.

"W-Whoa!" Hiro's eyes go wide as he looks up at the older woman. "T-That was-"

"Sick?" Tadashi offers with a grin.

"Awesome?" Abigail supplies.

"Completely amazing?" Tadashi continues playfully.

"Mind-blowing?" Abigail throws in.

"All of the above!" Hiro agrees, albeit glancing curiously between the two-was there something more going on between them than just friendly banter?

"If you think that's cool, you should see what some of the others can do!" Tadashi says with a grin, cutting into his thoughts.

"Well, I think I kind of did from a distance back in the Expo Hall," Hiro admits. "But I'm kind of excited to see it all up close!"

"You'll love it!" Tadashi declares eagerly.

"C'mon." Abigail shakes her head and rolls her eyes playfully. "Let's get going before we miss the reset!"

"Right!" Tadashi agrees. "Let's get going-Aunt Cass is probably worried sick about us by now!"

It wasn't until the older man gently tugs on his hand that Hiro realizes that he hadn't let go of it since they finished teleporting even though he'd let go of Abigail's almost immediately upon arrival. The teen wasn't sure how he felt about that, but the physical contact did feel, oddly enough, kind of reassuring and so he decides to just go with it.

"So… Who exactly is Aunt Cass?" Hiro asks with curiosity as Tadashi leads him through the strange room they had landed in and towards a set of stairs. "I guess you guys just call her that 'cause she's kind of like the cool aunt who looks out for everyone?"

"Well, that's true for most of us," Abigail answers. "But she's actually our biological aunt."

"S-She's what?" Hiro's eyes go wide. Wait, he actually had another family member?!

"Yep," Tadashi agrees with a grin. "She's totally amazing, and she's going to be so happy to have you back with us-she always took it really hard that we lost you and… Well, let's just say that she's been a lot happier since we found out that you were for sure alive. She always said that she had a strong feeling that you were alive somewhere, but actually knowing where you were was a huge relief for her."

"Just be forewarned, she's probably going to smother you with hugs and kisses the minute you walk in the door!" Abigail laughs. "She's majorly affectionate, and especially having her 'baby' back…"

"She calls me that?" Hiro asks, not sure how he felt about it.

"Don't feel bad, she considers all of us her 'babies'," Tadashi sighs even as he shakes his head fondly. "She treats us like adults and trusts us to be responsible and make our own decisions, but that doesn't keep her from acting like a protective mama bear if she thinks anyone's trying to hurt us."

"The claws come out-sometimes literally!" Abigail agrees.

"Wait-claws?" HIro looks curiously between them before asking jokingly, "What, she's some kind of animal?"

"Crane, actually-Red Crown Crane, to be specific," Tadashi answers.

"Hold on, what?" Hiro cries, coming to a full stop and looking up at him in disbelief. "H-How are we related to a bird?"

"Well, she's not a bird all the time-she was born human, but she can turn into a crane if she wants to," Tadashi explains with a tiny shrug as if it wasn't something completely mind-bending to be talking about. "All ymbrynes can do it. Only birds have the ability to time travel, so it follows that they have to be able to change into birds to be able to manipulate the time in our Loops."

"I… Guess?" Hiro agrees, uncertainly starting to walk along behind the others again, trying to process this new piece of information. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be the last really crazy piece of information he was going to find out regarding the Peculiars, but he decides that maybe it's for the best that he doesn't ask any more questions until they reach the Loop-wherever that turned out to be.

"Um, guys? Where exactly are we going?" Hiro finally says, daring to ask one last question. "I mean, I thought that the reason for teleporting was so that we'd be outside the entrance to the Loop?"

"We're almost there," Tadashi reassures him.

"I'm still working on the accuracy of my arrivals," Abigail adds apologetically before gesturing to a gigantic, half-circle structure that looks like it had seen better days. "That's our entrance-this place was apparently some kind of super-secret scientific laboratory that my dad was actually a part of back in the day, but when some experiment went super wrong, they shut it down, making it the perfect place for our entrance. No one comes here, both because it's supposed to be in quarantine and because it's on an island way out in the middle of the bay, so no one will ever stumble in who shouldn't!"

"Makes sense," Hiro agrees with a small nod. "So, do you guys all live on the island in your loop, or…?"

"Oh no, we actually live in the apartment above a cafe!" Tadashi answers.

"A cafe?" Hiro asks curiously.

"Yeah," Tadashi agrees. "It's pretty cool, actually! I mean, it's not like we exactly _need_ the money-since we're in a time loop and we actually use electronic banking, that means everyone's bank accounts get reset at the beginning of every day, so it's not like we exactly get to keep our profits, but we don't lose any of the money we spend either, although anything we bring into the house or cafe does stay there… Yeah, it's all a bit confusing, we've yet to completely figure it out ourselves. Still, the cafe at least gives us something to do with our time. Aunt Cass loves to cook and bake so it makes her happy, and the rest of us take turns taking shifts."

"That makes sense," Hiro says after considering that.

"Don't worry, that's not all we do!" Tadashi hurries to add. "Since the Loop is in summer, we pretty much get to do whatever we want in the city if we're not working-it's like endless summer vacation! I mean, sadly we can't go farther than we can come back in one day because the Loop is kind of connected to the house, but there's so much to do in SF that it never really gets old, y'know?"

"That… Actually sounds pretty awesome," HIro admits. No real adult responsibilities except for working a job that didn't really sound that hard? After a lifetime of being constantly pressured to do and be more, it was almost enough to make him want to sign up on the spot. But he has to remind himself not to get too drawn in yet-not until he'd actually gotten a chance to see what things were like inside the Loop.

"Guys, c'mon, as important as this conversation is, we do not want to be outside of the Loop when time resets or we'll get stuck here!" Abigail reminds them.

"Right!" Tadashi agrees, flashing her an apologetic smile. "C'mon, let's go!"

After that, everything kind of happened in a blur. Hiro found himself being led towards the weird metal structure, having no idea where the supposed "door" was supposed to be until the others pulled him through a large opening in the base where a panel was missing that was almost like a door. He expected some flash of light like when Abigail had portaled them earlier when they went through, but nothing of the sort happened-actually, it seemed like they'd just stepped inside only to turn back around and walk straight back out of it. The large room they stepped out into seemed like it was exactly the same as before-if it wasn't for the fact that he was standing here with someone who could conjure fire with their bare hands and another person who was able to teleport themselves and others across great distances, he probably would have thought that this was some sort of elaborate prank. Still, he didn't have much time to think about how this all potentially could be a trick as Tadashi asks Abigail, "How much time do we have?"

"Not much," Abigail replies. "We should be safe since we're in the Loop, but we'll be safer at home!"

"Right!" Tadashi quickly grabs Hiro's hand again, not thinking to or just feeling he didn't have the time to ask permission. Abigail quickly grabs his other hand and, with a flash of light, they're yet again traveling off to a new destination.

"Thank goodness, you got us right outside!" Tadashi cries as soon as they land or appear or whatever it was that they were doing in their new surroundings.

"C'mon, this way, the door should be unlocked!" Abigail says, hurrying towards a set of steps leading up to a door in the side of a building.

Tadashi follows after her, and Hiro lets himself be pulled along, too confused and disoriented to really be able to argue even if he'd wanted to.

"Aunt Cass, we're here!" Tadashi calls as the three of them hurry through the door and into a well-lit living room that was full of people.

"Oh, thank goodness!" A short woman with brown hair who had been pacing in the middle of the room hurries over to them. "Are all of you okay? I was so worried that you weren't going to make it in time!"

"We're fine, Aunt Cass," Tadashi hurries to reassure her before adding proudly, "And we have Hiro with us!"

"You-Oh my!" Aunt Cass lets out a quiet gasp as she looks the younger boy, who gives her an awkward half-wave.

"Oh, look at you…" Aunt Cass says softly, slightly teary eyed and tentatively reaching out as if to hug him. "You've gotten so big…" But before saying anything else, she glances at the clock on a nearby table and letting out a tiny cry of alarm. "It's time! Hold on just a minute, I have to reset things, but then I will be right back! Don't move, okay?"

"Okay…?" Hiro says uncertainly, not sure how he was supposed to respond to that.

"C'mon." Tadashi gently takes his hand and leads him over to a nearby window, drawing back the heavy curtain to reveal a view of the street outside. "You'll want to see this!"

Hiro wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to be looking for, but then suddenly it's like the whole day is passing by them like rewind on an old VHS tape-the sky going from dark to sunset red to the blue of daytime to a purple sunrise and back to black at an impossible speed, the people, animals, and vehicles passing by outside mere blurs of color.

"Wow…" Hiro gasps when everything finally settles down to dark stillness, looking up at the older man beside him with wide eyes. "T-That was…"

"Sick?" Tadashi prompts with a grin.

"Sure," Hiro agrees with a small smile-apparently "sick" was something his brother said a lot, and while his adopted parents would have cringed at the improper use of the word, he couldn't help but find that he actually kind of liked it.

"So, that was our reset," Tadashi explains. "We're back at the beginning of our Loop for the day."

Hiro nods, not sure how exactly to answer that, only to find himself suddenly being wrapped in an almost crushing hug.

"Oh, sweetie, I can't believe that you're actually- After all these years-!" Aunt Cass says when she finally loosens her grip on the poor, disoriented teen a little bit but still keeping a tight hold on his hands.

 _Note to self_ , Hiro dazedly thinks, _my family is apparently all extremely physically affectionate._ It was a bit weird to have so many people hugging and fussing over him in one night when he'd never really experienced anything of the kind in the past, but it felt oddly nice. Still, he was keeping his guard up until he knew more-you couldn't be too cautious, even around seemingly nice people.

"Give him some room to breathe, Aunt Cass," Tadashi tells the older woman playfully, but it was obvious from the expression on his face that he was about as close to tears as she was.

"Right, sorry," Aunt Cass apologizes with a small laugh, finally letting Hiro go. "It's just… We were afraid we'd never see you again! And now you've finally come home!"

"Uh…" As nice as this lady seemed to be and how happy she was to see him, Hiro wasn't sure how to break it to her that he wasn't sure if he'd actually be staying here.

"Hiro's sort of just here on a visit," Tadashi puts in, saving him from the somewhat awkward explanation. "We're kind of just going to play it by ear, see how he feels about staying here more permanently after seeing what it's like being here for a full day."

"Oh!" The look on Aunt Cass' face is momentarily shocked and slightly heartbroken, but within moments it's quickly replaced by an actually genuine looking smile which Hiro suspected she had spent years perfecting. "Of course! We wouldn't want you to feel like you have to stay here unless you want to, sweetie!"

"T-Thanks…" Hiro offers her a hesitant smile back, knowing that she was just doing her best to sound cheerful for his sake but that, even unintentionally, he had somehow hurt her and she just seemed to exude so much sweetness and light that it felt almost morally wrong to disappoint her like that.

"I think it's getting pretty late-everyone should probably be getting ready for bed," Tadashi puts in, yet again coming to the younger boy's rescue-was that a thing he did, rescuing people from awkward conversations?

"Oh, yes, right!" Aunt Cass agrees, quickly snapping out of whatever emotional haze that might still have been lingering around her. "It's almost midnight, all of you should be heading to bed!"

"We don't have that restriction on any other night!" the girl with the short black hair who Hiro recognized as the one who had gotten him out of the Expo Hall earlier complains.

"You've all had a very long day, you need your sleep," Aunt Cass answers firmly, cutting off any further arguments. "We can do introductions in the morning, but Hiro at least probably needs his sleep after everything that's happened today!"

The truth was that Hiro usually stayed up well past midnight when he could get away with it, but he wasn't about to try to argue with someone who obviously had seniority here. As it was, he honestly was a bit worn out, mentally and emotionally if not physically, and so having a bed to lie in and collect his thoughts would be most welcome.

"Where's he going to sleep tonight?" Abigail suddenly asks.

"A very valid question," Aunt Cass sighs. "We don't have any extra beds at the moment. I'm sure if Hiro decides that he does want to stay we can get him one, but for tonight…"

"He can have my room," Tadashi offers, maybe a bit too quickly. "I can just stay with Fred for tonight." He smiles over at the blond man in a beanie, who instantly grins back at him.

"I certainly don't mind!" Fred agrees with a grin.

"Of course you don't," the raven haired girl snarks at him.

"GoGo, don't you dare start anything when I could have plenty to say about you and Honey-" Tadashi growls, but Aunt Cass quickly cuts him off.

"We have a _guest_!" she says, giving them all a quick glare that makes at least two of them hang their heads like scolded puppies. "Tadashi, if you're willing to let Hiro have your room for the night, that is fine. But if you're going to be sharing with Fred tonight, please keep in mind that there is a minor in the house so please be discreet."

"We will," Tadashi answers, and Hiro could almost see him having to fight back the instinct to stick his tongue out at the woman who was apparently named GoGo. The younger teen had some serious questions about that name, but hopefully that could be explained tomorrow. As it was, he suddenly found that he was almost asleep on his feet.

"You okay?" Tadashi asks, apparently noticing him swaying slightly.

"'M fine," Hiro answers, although his eyelids were starting to droop in spite of himself.

"No you're not-you look exhausted!" Tadashi answers. "C'mon. Let's get you upstairs to bed."

Hiro wanted to protest, but before he could he suddenly found himself being scooped up into a strong pair of arms and he couldn't bring himself to argue. He almost felt like he was a little kid again-it was just so nice and comfortable here, maybe it wouldn't hurt to just sleep…

"Good night, otouto," Tadashi says gently, leaning down to gently peck his forehead.

Before Hiro could even answer, he was fast asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

When Hiro awoke the next morning, he found himself blinking up into morning sunlight. Rolling over, he saw that the clock on the bedside table said 10:28. Wow, he had slept in late. Why hadn't his parents…?  
His eyes go wide as he bolts upright in bed, taking in his surroundings. This definitely was _not_ his room! It took him thirty seconds and a mini panic attack to realize where he must be. He didn't remember even entering this room last night, but he could only assume that it was Tadashi's. As his heart rate slows, he starts taking stock of his surroundings. He was slightly surprised to see that the walls were lined with posters of not only different animes and nerdy tv shows, but that there were shelves just full of different mechanical creations. Gingerly he gets out of bed to go examine them, as if afraid of all of the tiny robots suddenly coming to life to reprimand him if he was too loud. It kind of felt like snooping, but given everything was out there in the open hopefully Tadashi wouldn't mind him taking a look around…?

As it was, after just a moment of looking at the shelves, any hesitation was quickly replaced by fascination. Each of the tiny machines were so intricate-so detailed. They were at least at Hiro's level of creation, if not better! He didn't know that Tadashi liked to build robots-maybe it was something really important that they had in common. Who knew? Maybe it was a family thing-that could be pretty cool if it was, honestly!  
After a couple more minutes of looking around, Hiro felt his curiosity about what the rest of the house and it's peculiar inhabitants growing and so he carefully opens the door and peeks out into the hallway. He'd hoped that maybe Tadashi or one of the others might be somewhere nearby, but a quick survey of the immediate area told him that it wasn't the case. For a moment, he hesitates, not sure where to go in this unfamiliar house. Then he hears footsteps on the stairs and immediately turns towards the source of the noise. To his slight disappointment, instead of Tadashi or Aunt Cass, it was the raven haired girl from last night.

"Um, hi…" Hiro says awkwardly, not really sure how to start talking to her.

"Hey," the other girl answers, popping her gum loudly as she looks him up and down, clearly not impressed with what she was seeing. "Looks like you're finally up."

"Um, yeah…" Hiro agrees, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck-sheesh, why did it seem like she already hated him when they'd just barely met? Was this just the way his life was, people hating him for not particularly good reason? "D-Do you know where Tadashi is?"

GoGo's eyes seemed to narrow momentarily at the older man's name-what was with that?-but then suddenly a small smile flits across her face.

"Sure," she says, her tone a bit too friendly. "He's in the room down the hall-third door on the right, can't miss it."

"O-Okay…" Hiro was pretty sure he was being set up somehow, but he couldn't figure out exactly how, so he decides to just go with it and keep his guard up. "Um, thanks?" he adds, waving to GoGo.

"You're welcome," GoGo answers, seeming to be fighting a smirk as she goes into the room across the hallway and closes the door. As Hiro starts walking down the hallway, though, he could have sworn that he heard it creak back open ever so slightly.

Trying to put the weird encounter behind him, Hiro counts doors until he reaches the right one. If the number wasn't correct, the small sign labeling it "Fred's Room" more than confirmed his suspicions. Tadashi had said that he was staying in someone named Fred's room, right? This had to be the place.

He tentatively knocks on the door, not feeling like he should just walk in there unannounced. When there's no response, he thinks that maybe that was the kind of trick GoGo was playing on him-make him knock on the door or an empty room and look like an idiot. Fine. She'd had her joke-ha ha, hilarious. He was just turning away to head down the stairs in search of someone more helpful when he suddenly becomes aware of noises on the other side of the door. Not normal noises-moanings and thumpings like someone was in pain or being attacked.

Instantly Hiro's eyes go wide, the image of the Hollow from last night burning into his brain. No, one of the monsters had managed to get in and was trying to kill his brother!

Without even thinking about the consequences, Hiro pushes the door open, practically stumbling in, expecting to find a Hollow attacking Tadashi. But when he manages to get his balance again, there was no monster. In fact, there was nothing out of the ordinary unless you counted the interior design of the room-but, well, that was another story. So where was the noise coming from-?

He freezes as his gaze lands on the bed, not sure exactly what he was seeing. He could see that both Fred and Tadashi were on the bed, both wearing pants but shirtless, with Fred seemingly pinning the other man down to the bed. Hiro thought that maybe they were wrestling-friends did that, right?-but then he realizes that their mouths were together. Wait, were they actually-?

Coming to realize just what he'd walked in on and cheeks burning, Hiro starts blindly stumbling back towards the door, wanting nothing but to get out of there and forget everything he'd just seen. Unfortunately, in his haste, he managed to knock over a stack of books that comes crashing loudly down to the ground.

Startled by the sudden noise, Fred instantly jerks back from Tadashi, and Hiro had the rather unfortunate and disturbing pleasure of seeing his reptilian looking tongue slithering out of the other man's mouth-oh God, he was never going to get rid of that mental image no matter how long he lived.

"H-Hiro!" Tadashi gasps, flushing bright red when he sits up and sees the teen standing in the doorway. "W-What are you-?"

"I-I… I h-have to go…" Hiro mumbles before blindly hurrying out into the hallway, not bothering to listen as he hears Tadashi calling out his name. Part of him wanted to run down into the main house where he'd have an easier time of hiding, but he didn't know what he might find if he went down there and so he heads for the one safe place he knew there was in this whole house-Tadashi's room. Sure, his brother would probably come looking for him here first, but it was the only place he knew to go. He closes the door behind him as soon as he's inside, crawling back up onto the bed and wishing very hard that he could just go back to sleep and wake up and find out that this had all been some really messed up dream.

A few minutes later, there was the sound of soft knocking on the door, and Hiro hears Tadashi's voice calling through it, "Otouto? Otouto, can I come in?"

Hiro wasn't really sure if he wanted to be left alone or if he actually wanted to try to get some explanation for what had just happened and so he just stays there on the bed, letting Tadashi decide whether or not to enter. He was beginning to think that the older man had given up and left when suddenly the doorknob turns and the door very slowly creaks open. That sound was followed by soft footsteps, and even though he was facing away from the door, Hiro could feel the dip in the mattress as his brother sits down on the edge of the bed.

"Hiro, I'm so sorry you had to see that," Tadashi says softly, his tone completely and genuinely apologetic. "I-I swore that we locked the door last night, if I'd known that there was any way you could walk in on us I never would have…"

"W-Why were you kissing him?" Hiro finally asks, finally turning to look at the older man.

"Um… What?" Tadashi says uncertainly. "Why was I-?"

"H-He's a guy, right?"

"Yes…"

"A-And you're a guy…"

"Yes, I am… Oh, Hiro… I-Is this about me being gay?"

"Y-You are?" Hiro asks.

"Yes, yes I am," Tadashi answers with a quiet sigh. "I'm sorry, I never imagined that this would be an issue… Look, if you have some sort of religious objection to it, I can't tell you that I'm going to break up with Fred, because I'm not, but I can try to make sure we don't do anything in front of you that would make you uncomfortable-"

"N-No… Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho don't really believe in religion…" Hiro replies.

"Oh… Okay," Tadashi says uncertainly. "But I'm guessing that they're not a fan of homosexual relationships?"

"T-They didn't really talk about them much, but when they did, they didn't have very nice things to say about them," Hiro admits.

"I see." Tadashi nods slowly. "Do you personally think there's anything wrong with two guys or two girls being together?"

"I… Guess not? It's just kind of weird…"

"Would talking about it help?" Tadashi gently offers.

"Maybe…" Hiro says uncertainly.

"Okay then." Tadashi gives him a warm smile as he pulls himself up to sit cross-legged on the end of the bed, facing Hiro. "What do you want to know?"

Hiro considers this as he slowly copies Tadashi's pose. "Um… I never really thought about it before…" he admits.

"Take your time-we've got all the time in the world," Tadashi reassures him.

Hiro cracks a slight smile at the irony of his statement, something about that small bit of humor helping his brain loosen up slightly so he could actually form a coherent question.

"How did you figure it out? That you're into guys instead of girls, I mean?" Hiro asks.

"I'm not sure if I can give you one specific moment that I, like, had my gay awakening or anything," Tadashi answers with a wry smile. "I mean, growing up I thought that I would like girls someday because that's what I thought guys were supposed to do. Aunt Cass didn't raise us homophobic or anything, but it wasn't like there were any kids movies where two princes or princesses got together so I didn't really think there was any other option, y'know? And if we'd stayed in the Loop as kids, maybe it never would have even been an issue. But you know how I told you about all of us aging pretty much overnight?"

"Yeah," Hiro agrees with a nod, finding himself slowly relaxing in the interest of the conversation.

"Well, as you might imagine, along with all the regular physical changes that come with growing older, we also all got hit with the hormones-about ten years' worth of hormones, all at once," Tadashi continues wryly.

"Yikes…" Hiro winces at that-he was only just starting his teen years and didn't really feel like hormones had started hitting him yet, but he'd gone through high school and he'd seen how crazy they could make you act.

"Yeah…" Tadashi shakes his head. "It wasn't pretty. Fortunately at the same time we were dealing with our old Loop closing and trying to figure out whether or not to create a new one and how to keep ourselves going until we made our decision, so that gave us all somewhere to direct our energy and I kind of buried myself in trying to work in fixing up the Cafe since, thanks to the Loop closing, it had been abandoned for ten years and was in major need of repairs, even though Professor Callaghan had tried to keep it up for us. Still, even with all of that, I discovered that I was suddenly very, very attracted to my best friend. It made things kind of weird between us for a while because I didn't really understand what was happening to me and I was too scared to say anything about it. It finally hit the point where I thought that Fred and I were going to have to stop being friends because we were just avoiding each other like the plague. Then I finally went to Professor Callaghan and told him what was going on and he helped me figure things out. It was a pretty huge relief finding out that I wasn't going crazy and that were feelings were entirely valid. I still didn't know if Fred would reciprocate, but knowing the truth about myself helped me have the courage to finally tell him. Turns out that he was dealing with the exact same thing, only about me, and so we've been together ever since."

"Wow… I, um… That actually sounds pretty nice," Hiro quietly admits.

"It is," Tadashi agrees with a warm smile. "He's the best boyfriend in the whole world, and I love him with all of my heart."

Hiro couldn't help but find himself smiling at that. Admittedly, he had no experience with gay relationships, but then again he hadn't exactly had a lot of great examples of hetero ones either given his adopted parents and their friends didn't really believe that emotions had any place in a relationship. And Tadashi seemed happy with Fred-like, really freaking happy, the kind of happiness that almost made Hiro want something like that for himself someday. He honestly hadn't thought that much about whether he liked guys or girls or if he even liked anyone in that way at all. Somehow, though, sitting here with his older brother who was sharing something so obviously personal with him even though he didn't know how Hiro would react, the younger boy couldn't help but have the feeling that, staying here, he'd be allowed to be whoever and whatever he wanted to be. At home, for his entire life he'd had been told exactly who he was supposed to be and what he was supposed to be doing-even the minutest detail was planned out for him. And yet here was Tadashi, telling him that there was a place where he'd be allowed the type of freedom he'd never thought was possible before-or, at least, that's what he thought he was hearing.

"H-How did the others take it?" he asks carefully.

"Pretty well, actually," Tadashi asks with a warm smile. "Aunt Cass said she'd honestly seen it coming for years but hadn't wanted to interfere, but once she knew that we were together she was totally and completely supportive. Professor Callaghan and Abigail were about the same. Wasabi was a bit surprised, but I think he came around to it pretty quickly. Honey Lemon was super excited for us, and I think GoGo was kind of relieved because it made things that much easier for them when they came out as a couple not long after us."

"Wait, GoGo's dating a girl?" Hiro asks curiously-he wasn't sure if he could exactly remember who Honey Lemon was, but just going on process of elimination he was pretty sure that she must be the tall blond girl with the pink glasses.

"Yep," Tadashi agrees with a small chuckle. "It's kind of crazy that four of us ended up becoming couples, but I guess it makes sense considering we all understand each other's situations. GoGo and Honey Lemon jokingly try to keep matchmaking 'Sabi and Abigail, but I don't think _everyone_ in the Loop has to be coupled up unless they want to, right?"

"Right…" Hiro agrees slowly, honestly feeling a bit out of his depth but just going with it.

"You still doing okay with all of this?" Tadashi asks gently.

"Yeah, I think so," Hiro answers with a nod. "Sorry, it's just all a lot to take in…"

"Understandable," Tadashi says with a sympathetic smile. "Any questions you want to ask that might help?"

"Well, um…" Hiro considers this before saying slowly, "It's kind of unrelated, but… Do you know why GoGo doesn't like me?"

"Doesn't like-Hiro, why would you think she doesn't like you?" Tadashi asks, his brow furrowing in concern.

"I…" Hiro wasn't sure if he should tattle on someone he could potentially end up having as a housemate, but this morning's events had been pretty traumatizing and so he admits, "She… Kind of was the one who sent me down to Fred's room to find you. And the way she was acting, I felt like she was setting me up for something, but I didn't know what until I opened the door…"

"She. Did. WHAT?"

Hiro had read in stories where a character's eyes were said to look like they had flames in them when the got angry. In Tadashi's case, he was pretty sure it was literal-he could almost feel the waves of anger cascading off of him in fiery heat.

"I-Y-Yeah…" Hiro mumbles, wondering if he really should have opened this can of worms. "I mean, maybe it was an accident…"

His words go unheeded-within moments Tadashi is angrily stalking towards the door, and Hiro finds himself scrambling after him, some sort of horrified fascination making him wonder just what his brother was going to do.

"GoGo? GOGO, OPEN THIS DOOR!" Tadashi shouts, loudly banging on the door of the petite girl's room.

"What?" GoGo snaps when she finally opens it.

"What? You _know_ what! Did you or did you not purposefully send Hiro down to Fred's room knowing what we'd probably be doing?"

"How was I supposed to know that you and Fred were going at it? Did I suspect? Sure! But I didn't think the kid would go running in there! I thought he'd hear the sounds at the door and walk away-it's not like you two are quiet about it!"

"For your information, I thought that there was a Hollow attacking my brother, so no, that was not helpful!" Hiro snaps, finding himself growing angry that the other girl was trying to put the blame on him.

"Seriously?" GoGo smirks. "You thought it was a Hollow? That's freaking hilarious!"

"It is NOT funny!" Tadashi growls. "Hiro could have walked in on something worse than he did, and do you know how traumatizing that could have been?"

"Maybe you should lock the door next time," GoGo answers with a small shrug.

"Wait-how did you know that the door wasn't locked?" Tadashi asks, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I mean, if he walked in on you, obviously the door had to have been unlocked, right?" GoGo answers, balking slightly.

"I could have sworn I made sure to lock the door last night," Tadashi answers. "Unless a certain speed demon snuck in before I closed the door, unlocked it, and then got out of there before I could see her."

"You think I'm capable of that?" GoGo protests.

"You do it to prank someone about once a week-so yeah, I do!" Tadashi fires back. "I can't believe you!"

"Why are you taking his side over mine?" GoGo spits back angrily.

"Because it's obvious who's in the wrong here! Why would you do something like this?!" Tadashi cries, looking at her in utter disbelief.

"Because he doesn't belong here!" GoGo answers, eyes flashing dangerously as she gestures at Hiro. "Our family is just fine the way it is, we don't need anyone coming in here and ruining everything! But since you obviously care so much more about him than the rest of us who have been here with you for ten freaking years-!"

"GoGo, that's _enough_." Tadashi's voice was no longer overtly angry-it had turned to a cold fury, which was infinitely more terrifying. "You crossed a line, and you know it. You're grounded."

"You can't ground me! I'm not a child!" GoGo protests.

"You're acting like one right now, so yes, I can," Tadashi replies sternly. "And if I can't, then Aunt Cass surely can when she hears about this."

GoGo glares at him and then turns on Hiro. "This is all _your_ fault. You never should have come here," she hisses before whirling around and slamming the door behind her.

Hiro was honestly slightly frozen with fear, and the only thing that manages to break through the icy shell was when Tadashi lets out a loud sigh, puts a hand on his shoulder, and says softly, "I'm sorry you had to see that…"

"She really does hate me…" Hiro whispers, eyes wide and finding himself shivering slightly-he'd had people not like him and even be outright antagonistic towards him before, but never before had he felt this level of pure hatred.

"Oh, otouto, no," Tadashi says softly, wrapping his arms gently around him. "It's just… It's been just the seven of us for so long, and I think GoGo is afraid that your coming here could upset the balance we've created after all these years. And she might be a bit jealous of you."

"J-Jealous? What could she have to be jealous of me? Because I can see creatures straight out of nightmares that got me sent to a shrink for most of my life?" Hiro asks with a caustic laugh.

"No, not that," Tadashi sighs. "I think she's afraid that you might be trying to replace her."

"Replace her? Replace her how?" Hiro looks up at him in surprise.

"Everyone here is like family-GoGo's always been like my little sister," Tadashi explains. "I think she thinks having my biological little brother here might cause me to stop caring about her like that."

"Will it?" Hiro asks uncertainly.

"Of course not!" Tadashi answers. "I have more than enough room in my heart for all of you guys! Even if right now my focus is kind of on you because I haven't seen you for so long, that doesn't mean I'll stop spending time with her or love her any less! In time she'll see that, but for right now she needs to learn that acting out in ways that will hurt you is not the way to deal with her emotions."

"I… I guess…" Hiro honestly knew little to nothing about family dynamics given the one he'd grown up in. He couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for messing things up for this one, but if Tadashi said that things were really going to be okay…

"C'mon." The older man offers him a warm smile as he gently squeezes his shoulder. "She'll come around, but she needs her space right now. How about we head down to breakfast? I think I heard Aunt Cass say that she's making her famous orange rolls!"

"Orange rolls?" Hiro asks, feeling his stomach growling slightly at the mention of food (he couldn't remember if he'd even had dinner last night in his excitement over the Expo) and glad to be moving on to a newer, safer conversation topic.

"They're like cinnamon rolls, but there's some orange flavoring in the glaze-it might sound gross, but it just makes it sweeter and they're super good! ...Do you not like cinnamon rolls?" Tadashi asks when he sees the expression on the younger boy's face.

"I just… I've never had cinnamon rolls before… Or, y'know, most breakfast pastries… My adopted parents are kind of strict about food…" Hiro admits, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"S-Seriously?" Tadashi stares down at him like he was a tiny puppy someone had just kicked. "What did they feed you?"

"Uh… For breakfast? Bran cereal or fruit-sometimes plain oatmeal if it was cold outside…" Hiro answers.

"Holy-We are fixing this. RIGHT NOW," Tadashi declares, practically dragging him towards the stairs, muttering under his breath, "Bran cereal? Never had a cinnamon roll? How does that not count as child maltreatment?"

Hiro honestly wasn't sure how to answer that, but the tempting smell wafting up from the kitchen was making his stomach growl loudly enough that it was pretty much answering for him. Despite the slightly rough start to the morning, he could only hope that maybe breakfast might be a good place to start over again and see if they couldn't get this day off on a better track.


	5. Chapter 5

"Good morning!" Aunt Cass greets the brothers with a sunny smile as they enter the kitchen where she was just pulling a tray of what smelled like the best pastries Hiro had ever encountered before in his life out of the oven.

"Morning," Tadashi answers with an easy grin, going over to gently peck her on the cheek.

"Did you sleep well?" Aunt Cass asks, giving him a one-armed hug as she puts the tray down on the table.

"Mm!" Tadashi agrees. "I slept fine, Aunt Cass."

"Good!" Aunt Cass gives him a more proper hug once the tray is safely situated before heading over to Hiro. "And how about you? Did you sleep okay?"

"It was fine, ma'am," Hiro answers, still not sure how to act around her-she was extremely nice, sure, but he'd always been taught to be extremely reserved and respectful around adults.

"No, no, no, don't go calling me 'ma'am'!" Aunt Cass chuckles, giving him a playful but loving swat with her apron. "It makes me sound like an old lady! Aunt Cass or even just Cass is fine, but I don't want any of that formal stuff around here!"

"Y-Yes ma-I mean, yes, Aunt Cass," Hiro answers, flashing her a shy smile.

"See! There you go!" Aunt Cass playfully ruffles his hair. "So, are you hungry?"

"Starving," Hiro admits, somehow just feeling like he could be perfectly honest around her.

"Good-I like to see good appetites in growing teens," Aunt Cass says with a warm smile. "I hope you like orange rolls!"

"Apparently he's never had orange rolls. Or cinnamon rolls. Or any other type of breakfast pastry," Tadashi states dryly.

"What?" Aunt Cass looks as horrified as her elder nephew had been earlier. "How has he never had a breakfast pastry before?!"

"Apparently this adopted family has been feeding him on bran cereal and plain oatmeal!" Tadashi tells her, looking thoroughly disgusted.

"They what?! Oh my gosh, sweetie…"

Hiro was afraid that she was either going to call the cops on his adopted parents or start crying-possibly both-she looked that upset. Instead of pursuing either of those paths of action, though, she grabs a plate and, within seconds, has at least three gigantic, gooey, rich buns on it, practically shoving them and a fork into Hiro's hands.

"Get eating these, and if you're hungry after that, I can make more!"

"Oh, um… T-Thank you?" Hiro looks down at the plate, not sure if he could actually eat all of that. Still, it smelled amazing and he decides that at the very least he could give it his best try.

"Bran and plain oatmeal indeed!" Aunt Cass gives a slightly injured sniff, shaking her head. "And to think that any nephew of mine would have to live under those conditions! Absolutely disgraceful!"

"Here." Tadashi, seeing that the younger boy was slightly at a loss as to which seat to take, gently guides him over to one of the empty chairs at the table. "This one's right next to mine. Go ahead and start eating, I just need to talk to Aunt Cass about GoGo's… behavior. But I'll be right back, okay?"

"'Kay," Hiro agrees, somewhat nervously taking a seat at the table of virtual strangers as Tadashi goes to talk to their aunt. At least he knew Abigail, and she gives him a friendly smile, so that helps. But the other three were complete unknowns. Well, not all of them, actually-the guy sitting across from him was a bit too familiar.

"Hey." Fred gives him a somewhat awkward wave, obviously trying to be friendly but not knowing where exactly he and the younger teen stood.

"Hi…" Hiro answers, giving him an awkward nod in return.

"So, um, I guess we didn't exactly get off on the right foot this morning," Fred says apologetically. "Any chance we could start over and try again?"

"Sure," Hiro agrees-any new beginning would be better than the one they'd had earlier.

"All right-so, as you've probably gathered, my name is Fred," Fred says, putting his hand out across the table for a shake.

"Yeah, I got that," Hiro agrees, gingerly shaking it in return.

"Um, I'm not sure what Tadashi told you about me and him, and I guess I should wait for him to say something before I do…" Fred says a bit uncertainly.

"He said that you two are… dating?" Hiro answers, still a bit unclear on that himself.

"Right!" Fred agrees with an eager nod, seeming glad that that was out in the open-as if it could be anything but with what Hiro had seen earlier that morning. A certain detail of what he'd seen-a rather disturbing detail, if he was being honest-sticks out in his mind, and the teen finds himself looking the other man with curiosity. Overall the other guy looked completely human, but if memory served him, hadn't he seen him turn into, like, a full-on dragon last night? That might explain the reptilian tongue thing. On closer inspection, he also realized that, instead of having normal round pupils in his cerulean eyes, the other man had reptilian slits. That was… Slightly disconcerting, honestly, but also kind of cool in an odd way.

"Sorry, are my eyes weirding you out?" Fred asks with an apologetic chuckle, apparently guessing what Hiro was staring at. "Usually I wear contacts if I'm around other people, but I didn't put them in yet this morning…"

"No, it's fine!" Hiro reassures him. "It's actually kind of awesome!"

"Really?" Fred looks surprised but pleased by his words.

"Definitely!" Hiro agrees. "If you don't mind my asking… What exactly are you?"

"Well, I guess the catch-all term is a shapeshifter, although I'm limited to just two forms," Fred answers with a slight smile. "Human and dragon-well, technically fire breathing lizard, but dragon just sounds cooler. Sadly there isn't really an official name for us like werewolves or kitsune, and weredragon or werelizard both sound kind of weird. But somewhere I heard the term 'draconi' and I've decided to go with that!"

"Huh… Cool," Hiro says with a slight smile and a nod. If his brother was going to be dating another guy, at least he was dating someone with really cool powers.

"Freddy, are you going to keep Hiro all to yourself or do the rest of us get to talk to him?" the blonde girl Hiro was pretty sure was named Honey Lemon asks with a playful smile from across the other side of the table.

"Fine, fine, I guess I have to share," Fred answers playfully, tossing the younger boy a playful wink.

"I'm Honey Lemon!" the woman tells Hiro eagerly, confirming his suspicion. "It's so nice to finally have you here!"

"Nice to be here," Hiro answers with a small smile, not sure how exactly to handle her overt friendliness but doing his best not to feel intimidated when she was obviously just doing her best to make him feel welcome. "So, um, what do you do? I saw you making that pink stuff last night-is that some sort of crystallization power or…?"

"Not exactly!" Honey Lemon titters. "I can actually control all the elements of the periodic table!"

"S-Seriously?" Hiro couldn't help but feel slightly impressed by that.

"Yep!" Honey Lemon beams back at him. "I mix them up to make all sorts of cool things!"

"Including explosions," the guy with dreads and the dark glasses observes, his expression obviously disapproving even though Hiro couldn't see his eyes. Seeming to want to take the opportunity to make his own introduction, he turns to the younger teen and says, "My name's David, and, before you ask, lazer vision-hence the glasses so I don't accidentally fry anything."

"But everyone just calls him Wasabi!" Honey Lemon sing-songs.

"Thank you for that…" David/Wasabi sighs with obvious frustration.

"Wasabi? Honey Lemon? GoGo? Who exactly comes up with all these nicknames?" Hiro asks, glancing around at the others.

"Ooh, ooh, that would be me!" Fred answers, proudly raising his hand.

"GoGo I get with the whole speed thing, but the other names?" Hiro says, sensing a story.

"I spilled wasabi on my shirt one time, people- _one_ time!" Wasabi complains.

"It wasn't just one time," Fred stage whispers to Hiro. "It was a bunch of times, but he's such neatnik that he would never own up to actually spilling anything, and eventually I just decided to call him on it to teach him a lesson!"

"That is not true!" Wasabi protests.

"It kind of is, 'Sabi," Honey Lemon says gently.

Wasabi lets out an annoyed huff but doesn't argue any further.

"So, how did you get your nickname?" Hiro curiously asks the blonde girl.

"Oh, that!" Honey Lemon lets out a tiny giggle. "Well, growing up I absolutely loved honey lemon tea-I still do! I would drink it whenever I could, and I guess considering I like to dress in bright yellow a lot, it just kind of stuck!"

"Plus you just have a really sweet personality!" Fred puts in.

"Aw, thank you, Freddy!" Honey Lemon beams at him.

"I can see that." Hiro nods before glancing over at the draconi and asking, "So, what's Tadashi's nickname?"

"I actually don't have one," Tadashi answers as he returns to the table, taking the seat next to Hiro.

"I've tried to come up with something for years, but nothing's worked!" Fred huffs, looking playfully annoyed as he crosses his arms over his chest. "It's like he bathes in nickname repellent-I've tried everything, but nothing sticks! The best we've come up with is 'Dashi', but that's just an abbreviation, not a proper nickname!"

"You'll come up with something eventually, love," Tadashi reassures him, although, if Hiro wasn't mistaken, it looked like he was slightly relieved not to have fallen prey to the nicknaming phenomena yet.

"I will!" Fred declares, a determined expression on his face.

"Does this mean that I'll get a nickname?" Hiro asks with a slight smile.

"Of course!" Fred agrees. "But it'll take me a bit to figure out something perfect for you!"

"That works!" Hiro chuckles.

"Hiro, you haven't touched your food!" Tadashi gently scolds him, looking down at the younger boy's plate. "It's probably gone all cold!"

"Oops-sorry," Hiro says apologetically. "Guess I got too caught up in meeting everyone…"

"It's fine." Tadashi lets out a tiny sigh, lovingly ruffling his hair before saying, "I'll just warm it back up for you, okay?"

Hiro was about to ask how the other man was going to do that but then Tadashi pulls off one of his gloves and carefully balances the plate on his bare palm. Only a few seconds after that, steam started rising off of the rolls and Tadashi gently sets the plate back down.

"Careful, they'll be hot," Tadashi gently warns him.

"Wow…" Hiro stares down at the rolls and then looks back up at his older brother. "T-That was so…" He couldn't think of a word that quite described it until the perfect word pops into his head and he declares, "sick!"

"I'm glad you think so," Tadashi chuckles, seeming to be blushing with pride at the praise as he pulls his glove back on before gently pressing a fork into the younger boy's hand. "Now eat before Aunt Cass gets mad at me for distracting you again!"

"Right!" Hiro carefully scoops a bite of the now-warm pastry onto his fork, carefully lifting it to his mouth and taking a bite-

"Ohmygosh…" The whole phrase comes out as one blissful sigh as the flaky pastry and rich glaze melt on his tongue.

"Good, right?" Tadashi grins down at him.

"Good? This is the freaking best thing I've ever tasted!" Hiro answers with a grin, eagerly scooping up another forkful. "Do you guys always eat like this?!"

"This is a pretty toned-down morning," Tadashi chuckles, obviously enjoying his reaction. "Just wait until you see what she makes for lunch and dinner!"

"And don't get us started on dessert!" Fred adds playfully.

 _It's almost enough to make me want to stay here just for the food_ , Hiro thinks as he works not to completely wolf down his breakfast. The wording of the thought strikes him, and he realizes that that was kind of the point-whether this kind of food was actually a normal occurrence he had yet to see, but the amazing breakfast and everyone's friendliness were all for one reason: trying to convince him to stay here. Given that realization, he knew that he should probably be more careful-to work hard not to get sucked in. But the truth was, he wanted to get sucked in-he wanted to stay here with these nice people and eat orange rolls and feel, for once in his life, like the whole weight of the universe wasn't on his shoulders. Still, he shakes himself, reminding himself not to get too comfortable here. As much as he wanted to believe that all of this was genuine, for all he knew right now they were all just putting up an act-a ruse to try to convince him to come live here that was rooted in some darker motive. Until he had seen more and had a chance to see their true colors, he had to keep himself from getting too swept away by it all.

Hiro was just finishing his rolls (and seriously debating taking Aunt Cass up on her offer of seconds) when suddenly he feels something warm and furry rubbing up against his legs.

"What the…?" he mutters, lifting up the edge of the tablecloth to investigate, only to find possibly the cutest (and, admittedly, chubbiest) cats he'd ever seen.

"Hi there!" As much as Hiro tried not to so easily show his emotions, even he couldn't help but melt as the feline continues to contentedly nuzzle him.

"Oh, that's right, you haven't met Mochi yet!" Tadashi says, grinning as he sees what's going on.

"Is he a Peculiar?" Hiro asks, suddenly realizing that the creature snuggling up against him might actually be human, and wow that would be awkward if it was.

"No, no, he's just our family cat!" Tadashi hurries to reassure him. "Well, Aunt Cass' cat, more specifically. It's a bit ironic how much she loves cats given she's a bird, but for some reason cats just seem to love her and I've never seen Mochi try to attack her, even as a crane, so we just go with it."

"Interesting…" Hiro honestly wasn't sure how that all worked, but as long as everyone was happy there was no reason to question it, right?

"Oh my gosh, you're not allergic, right?" Tadashi suddenly asks as a thought strikes him, eyes going wide.

"Oh, no, I'm fine-no cat allergies that I know of!" Hiro reassures him. "I mean, I've never really been allowed to have a pet, so I can't be sure…"

"Not even a hamster or a goldfish?" Honey Lemon asks in surprise.

"Nope."

"Were your parents allergic?" Fred asks.

"Adopted parents," Tadashi mutters under his breath.

"Um, no," Hiro answers, trying to not think about how possessive his brother was sounding at the moment. "They didn't really see the point of them and they said that forming emotional attachments with an animal that was just going to die was more harmful than anything."

"That's like saying you shouldn't make friends because they'll die eventually!" Fred cries. When Hiro doesn't answer that, he gasps and says, "D-Did they say you shouldn't have friends either?!"

"It wasn't exactly encouraged…" Hiro quietly mumbles. "I mean, they encouraged 'networking', making strategic relationships that would be beneficial for my future, but…"

"What… How… That is completely messed up!" Tadashi cries, angry flames burning in his eyes. "How could they tell you not to make friends?!"

"I, um…" Hiro wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Part of him felt like he was supposed to defend his adopted parents-they were the people who had raised him, after all. But it was actually sort of nice feeling-validating, almost-having someone express outrage over the same things he had felt were so unfair over all these years.

He was pretty sure that Tadashi was about to continue on with his diatribe when suddenly there's the sound of knocking on the door.

"Oh, I'll get it!" Abigail says, hurrying up out of her seat and over to answer it.

The mood broken, Hiro finds himself honestly somewhat glad for the distraction-as much as he appreciated someone having rage on his behalf, his brother did get kind of scary when he was mad...

"Dad!" Abigail beams as she opens the door, throwing her arms around the man standing on the stoop.

"Good morning." Professor Callaghan hugs her tightly back. "I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier. I was up all night trying to deal with the mess, and unfortunately it's nowhere near over…"

"How so?" Abigail asks, frowning in concern.

"The insurance alone to fix the Expo hall might take years to work out," Professor Callaghan sighs. "Let alone trying to cover up that the fire was caused a bunch of young adults with supernatural abilities..." Hiro could visibly see the exhaustion on his face at just the thought of it all, and the teen couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for his own part in the destruction of the Expo Hall.

"We didn't have a choice!" Tadashi puts in defensively. "If we hadn't destroyed the Hollow, it probably would have destroyed us all and countless other Peculiars!"

"I'm not blaming any of you for what happened," Callaghan answers firmly. "What happened was necessary, and no human lives were lost, and that's the important thing. It's just going to take a very long time to sort it all out."

"You know…" Abigail says, putting one arm on his shoulder, "this might be the sign you've been waiting for that it's time for you to retire-to get away from all this red tape before it gets to be too much!"

"Sweetheart, as much as I'd love to do that, I couldn't leave in the middle of all of this without raising suspicions we can't afford," Professor Callaghan tells her gently. "Besides, I have a few promises I have left to keep before I can leave the modern world for good." His eyes settle on Tadashi, who ducks his head slightly.

" _Sensei_ , if it would make things easier for you…" he says softly.

"No." Professor Callaghan shakes his head. "I promised you that, before I retired, I'd help you get your inventions out into the world, and I intend to keep that promise."

"I guess you have a point," Abigail agrees, her expression softening slightly. "Baymax is pretty important. Fine, I can wait until Baymax is released for 'the betterment of humanity', but after that you have to promise to come live here with us for good!"

"That's always been my plan," Professor Callaghan reassures her.

"Baymax?" Hiro glances around at the others for an explanation. "What's Baymax?"

"He's the project I've been working on for years," Tadashi admits with a proud smile. "He's gotten pretty advanced, but he's still not quite ready for the rest of the world to see yet. I can show you him in my workshop after breakfast, if you'd like."

"You have a workshop?" Hiro gasps, eyes going wide. He'd wanted a workshop of his own for years, but his parents only let him use a small corner of the garage to work on projects and he wasn't allowed to touch or move anything.

"Sure!" Tadashi agrees, grinning at his reaction. "Aunt Cass lets us use the garage to work on stuff-it's a bit cramped, but we've built onto it over the years and we each have our own areas for working on stuff."

"That's so cool," Hiro breathes before glancing around the table. "So, are all of you are inventors?"

"Yep!" Honey Lemon happily sing-songs.

"Well, not me," Fred admits. "I'm more of a 'reads comic books about inventing stuff' person. But I'm also a writer! Mainly just fanfic, but I've written a couple of my own stories over the years!"

"That's… Pretty cool," Hiro says with a small smile-he wasn't exactly sure what "fanfic" was, but he didn't want to sound stupid by asking. Honestly, his mind was mostly still on the workshop, but given the others weren't finished with breakfast yet, he finds himself asking, "What else do you guys do in your spare time-I mean, besides helping out in the cafe?"

"Well, we're all graduated from homeschooled high school by now," Tadashi explains. "We might be doing our own version of college if Professor Callaghan hadn't been teaching us all about technology from before we could talk, so we're pretty much up to date on everything he can teach us at this point and we mostly do our own independent research for fun. He keeps us updated on whatever new information comes out in our different fields, but sadly he'll probably have to stop when he does officially retire…"

"I've told you a thousand times that I won't let us get cut off," Professor Callaghan says firmly. "I have trusted people at the university I can have keep us up to date from time to time, and they'll find others to carry on for them when the time comes."

"I guess there's always Baymax too," Tadashi says thoughtfully. "With the capabilities he has for downloading information from electronic devices, he can leave without having to worry too much about the effects of aging on him, gather information, and then bring it back to us!"

"See? We have nothing to worry about," Professor Callaghan chuckles. "And we still have time before we even need to be concerned about that. You need to get finishing that robot of yours first, after all."

"Right!" Tadashi nods in response before finishing the last of his rolls.

He'd been doing his best to be patient, but seeing that his brother was done, Hiro eagerly asks, "Can we go see you workshop now? Please?"

"I don't see why not," Tadashi chuckles, playfully ruffling his hair-it was a motion Hiro was becoming accustomed to, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't actually enjoy it a little bit.

"Sick!" Hiro beams up at him, and his use of the expression made the older man laugh.

"C'mon." Tadashi gently squeezes his hand as he stands up from the table. "The workshop is downstairs."

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, eagerly following after him.

"Think we should go with them to show Hiro our tech too?" Abigail asks softly as they start to leave the room and Callaghan excuses himself to go say good morning to Aunt Cass, who had headed down to check on the cafe before he'd arrived.

"Nah." Fred shakes his head slightly and smiles. "Give them a few minutes on their own-they deserve it after all this time."

"Do you really think Hiro's going to stay?" Wasabi wonders aloud.

"I know he has an adopted family, but he seems so happy here… And I've never seen Tadashi smile like that before,"Honey Lemon says, seeming conflicted.

"I think everything will work out fine in the end," Fred answers firmly. "If Hiro's meant to be here, then he'll stay-that's how it works in stories, right?"

"But this isn't a story!" Wasabi reminds him.

"Says the guy with laser vision!" Abigail puts in playfully.

"And the girl who can teleport!" Honey Lemon giggles.

The others continue with their friendly banter, and Fred participates, although maybe not as much as he usually would have. His mind was on the two brothers who were currently heading down to the garage. He honestly didn't know how things would work out, but, for Tadashi's sake, he could only hope that maybe Hiro would be willing to stay here. Tadashi needed his little brother, that much was obvious. And maybe, just maybe, Hiro needed all of them too, even if he couldn't see it yet.


	6. Chapter 6

"So, everyone seems pretty nice," Hiro says as he and Tadashi make their way through the living room, trying to keep there from being any awkward silences.

"They are," Tadashi agrees warmly. "I've lived with them for over ten years, and I couldn't ask for a better family."

"Even though you're not related by blood or officially adopted or anything?" Hiro asks quietly.

"Absolutely," Tadashi replies, leaving no doubt that he meant it.

Hiro quietly considers this as he follows his older brother down the stairs. Tadashi said that he loved all of his family, and his actions seemed to corroborate his words. Was it possible that he could actually love him like that?

His rather weighty thoughts were interrupted as they reach the bottom of the stairs and Tadashi flips on the lights, announcing, "We're here!"

"Whoa…" All thoughts about family and the emotions that came with them were swept out of the younger teen's mind as he looks around at all of the amazing tech in front of him. "This. Is. Sick," he breathes.

"It's pretty cool, yeah," Tadashi agrees with a quiet chuckle. "We call it 'the Nerd Lab'-GoGo came up with the name, if you can believe it. I think it was supposed to be a joke, but it just kind of stuck. Want to take a look around?"

"Can I?" Hiro asks eagerly, feeling like a little kid in a toy store.

"Have at it!" Tadashi chuckles. "Just make sure you don't cross any warning tapes, okay? Especially Wasabi's office can sometimes have some dangerous stuff going on in there."

Wasabi was honestly the last person Hiro could imagine having anything dangerous going on, but the teen nods in response to the warning all the same, too excited to see everything to argue or even asks questions. With permission granted, he races off to inspect the closest cubicle. It was pretty obviously Honey Lemon's-all of the equipment and supplies were painted bright colors and decorated with sparkles. There were some pretty amazing-looking chemistry experiments going on in there, and he was tempted to investigate them, but then he remembers what Wasabi had said about explosions. Even if he'd been exaggerating, Hiro wasn't about to risk it. Still, there was kind of cute little globe with a whale in it sitting on the counter nearby and he finds himself reaching out to pick it up for closer inspection...

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tadashi hurries over and quickly cuts him off.

"What? What did I do?" Hiro asks, jumping back guiltily.

"Sorry," Tadashi apologizes. "I should have warned you-you really shouldn't touch most of the stuff in here either. Most of it's explosive."

"E-Explosive?" Hiro stares at the tiny whale globe in shock. "T-That's a bomb?"

"Pretty much all of these are," Tadashi sighs, gesturing to the shelves lining the walls filled with innocent looking models of chibi animals.

"I-Is that safe?" Hiro gasps.

"It's not," Tadashi answers wryly. "But HL has a little more than a pyromaniac side, so… Yeah. We can't make her stop. The best we could do was super reinforcing her cubicle to the point of practically being a bomb shelter so no one will get hurt if there's ever an accident."

"I-I see…" Hiro honestly couldn't imagine the sweet girl he'd met in the kitchen blowing anything up, but apparently looks could be deceiving.

"This is Wasabi's office," Tadashi says, gently ushering the teen over to the next cubicle, apparently deciding that it was safer to give the younger boy a guided tour than just have him roam around after that near accident.

"It's very… organized," Hiro comments, noting how there were little outlines all over the place and tools perfectly placed inside of them

"Don't ask me how he manages to keep it this clean-it's a mystery to all of us," Tadashi chuckles, shaking his head slightly before grinning and picking up an apple from a basket sitting by the door. "Oh, check this out!" He tosses the apple into what was seemingly empty air between two metal stands, only for the apple to be shredded into about a hundred paper thin slices.

"Whoa…" Hiro whispers, eyes going wide.

"Right?" Tadashi grabs one of the floating slices and hands it to the younger teen for closer inspection. "Laser induced plasma."

"He's got a thing for lasers, huh?" Hiro says with a wry smile as he examines it.

"Sometimes we joke that his lasers are his bae since he's never really showed any interest in any girls or guys," Tadashi chuckles.

"Nice." Hiro feels one side of his mouth twitching up at that, thinking that he could relate-his robots were his closest friends and basically his whole world. As Tadashi starts guiding him towards the next office, he suddenly thinks to ask, "Hey, uh, should we clean up those apple slices?"

"We… Will do that later," Tadashi answers with a playful smirk that told Hiro that there might not actually be a "later".

"So, this is GoGo's office!" the older man says, quickly changing the topic.

"Nice." Hiro nods approvingly as he looks around at all the gear inside it, which seemed to consist mostly of different types of wheels and bike parts, including a rather interesting looking yellow bike that hung from the ceiling. "What exactly does she do?"

"She's always looking for ways to go faster that don't require her using super speed," Tadashi explains. "Aunt Cass doesn't like her using it too much just to run errands and stuff-says people might notice, which wouldn't be good-so her goal is to create a bike that can move as fast as she can so she doesn't have to lose any of her speed while following Aunt Cass' rules. Right now she's working on a special type of bike with mag-lev suspension that seems pretty promising-zero resistance makes for faster movement."

"That is actually a really brilliant idea!" Hiro says with a grin. "I never would have thought about using that on a bike, but it totally works!"

"Maybe you can tell her that later," Tadashi tells him with a small smile. "Might be a good way to get on her good side, y'know?"

"Yeah, maybe…" Hiro agrees noncommittally-he still hadn't fully forgive the older girl for what she'd done earlier, so he wasn't sure that he had a good enough reason to want to get on her "good side". Still, her tech was pretty sweet, he would give her that at least.

"So, ready to see what I've been working on?" Tadashi asks, apparently realizing that GoGo was still a sore subject for the teen.

"Yes please!" Hiro answers, the smile quickly returning to his face. After seeing all the robots in the older man's room, he couldn't wait to see what this "Baymax" thing was that his brother had been talking about. Still, as they step out of GoGo's office, he can't help but notice an old stuffed recliner sitting kind of near the back of the garage in its own small space, and he asks curiously, "Whose is that?"

"That would be Fred's," Tadashi chuckles. "He likes hanging out with all of us, even if he isn't an inventor." The older man gestures to the other end of the garage where there are old couches and chairs, a small TV with several game systems connected to it, and bookshelves haphazardly stacked with movies and games. "When we all need a break or want to hang out, we play games or watch movies down here too. It's a lot of fun!"

"It sounds like a lot of fun…" Hiro admits quietly.

He does his best to ignore the slightly knowing look on Tadashi's face, not wanting to admit that he was starting to crack, instead quickly saying, "So, um, you said we were going to your office next…?"

"Right," Tadashi agrees with a nod. "C'mon, in here." He pushes aside a curtain that he must have put up for privacy before waving the younger boy inside.

Hiro looks around curiously at the office as he steps inside. It wasn't as flashy as the others', although there was a 3D printer that was totally drool-worthy as well as a rather impressive computer setup.

"So, where is this 'Baymax' thing you were talking about?" he asks, trying not to seem too impressed for fear that the older man might take it the wrong way like he seemed to be doing.

"Right here," Tadashi answers with a proud smile, gesturing to a small red case.

"Uh… It's a box?" Hiro says uncertainly.

"No, no, he's inside the box!" Tadashi chuckles. "You have to say 'ow' to activate him."

"Um, okay… Ow?" Hiro repeats.

"No, no, it has to sounds like you're actually in pain," Tadashi coaches him.

"Ow?" Hiro tries again, not really sure how to get more feeling into it without sounding like an idiot.

"No, not like that- Here, maybe this will help."

Hiro lets out an actual yelp as Tadashi removes one of his gloves and moves his bare palm dangerously close to an exposed part of the teen's skin.

"AH! DUDE! What the hell?!" Hiro cries.

"Sorry, I just had to get you scared-I wouldn't have actually touched you," Tadashi tells him with wry smile. "But look!"

Still glaring slightly at the older man, Hiro glances over at the red case, only to let out a tiny gasp as he sees that what looked like a giant white balloon inflating out of it. Only it wasn't a balloon-it was a robot. An actual robot!

"This," Tadashi says with a grin, gesturing to it, "is what I've been working on."

The robot steps out of it's case, blinking it's round black eyes open and shut before waddling over to Hiro. "Hello, I am Baymax," it chirps in a soft, somehow soothing robotic voice, "your personal healthcare companion. I was alerted to the need for medical attention when you said, 'Ow'."

Hiro does his best not to roll his eyes as Tadashi mouths the words along with the robot-obviously, he'd done this before but couldn't resist showing off a bit. Still, if this thing worked like it said it did, this was actually pretty huge!

"A robotic… nurse?" Hiro says slowly, wanting to make sure he was understanding the robot's purpose correctly.

As if in answer to his question, a pain scale chart appears on the robot's chest. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" it asks.

"Physical? Or emotional?" Hiro replies, not willing to let Tadashi off the hook for the earlier scare. The older man returns his playful glare with a pouting look before letting the robot get back to its job.

"I will scan you now," Baymax announces, looking the younger teen up and down, and a moment later a chart of a male human body appears on his chest. "You appear to be in perfect health, although your neurotransmitter levels are raised. This means that you are happy or excited."

"Well, yeah I'm excited-this is pretty cool!" Hiro admits with a small smile before turning to his older brother. "You've done some pretty serious coding on this thing, huh?"

"Uh huh. Programmed him with over ten thousand medical procedures!" Tadashi replies proudly, pressing on the robot's access port to reveal a tiny green chip. "This is what makes Baymax, well… Baymax."

Hiro can't help but grin slightly as he gently pushes the chip back in before starting to walk around the robot, trying to figure out how exactly it worked. "Vinyl?" he asks curiously as he gently pokes at the nurse bot's flexible, almost rubbery outer surface.

"Yeah," Tadashi agrees, seeming to be enjoying watching Hiro examining his work. "Going for a non-threatening, huggable kind of thing."

"It looks like a walking marshmallow," Hiro notes with a tiny smirk, before looking up at Baymax and adding, "No offense."

"I am a robot," Baymax answers, tilting his head ever so slightly. "I cannot be offended."

Hoping to figure out how exactly this guy could "see", Hiro stands up on his tiptoes and gently grasps the robot's head, looking into it's black "eyes". "Hyperspectral cameras?" he asks curiously.

"Yup!" Tadashi agrees with a nod.

"Huh…" Hiro presses his face against the robot's vinyl exterior in hopes of seeing its innerworkings. "Titanium skeleton!" he notes, impressed with the way the robot was built in such a way it could easily be compacted or inflated from its carrying case as the need arose.

"Carbon fiber," Tadashi gently corrects him.

"Right, even lighter!" Hiro agrees with a grin-his brother really had thought of everything. Then his eyes go wide as he spots something even more impressive inside the robot's body. "WHOA! Killer actuators! Where'd you get those?!" He would have given his left arm for one of those on some of his projects!

"Eh, machined 'em right here in house," Tadashi answers, trying to sound casual about it but failing miserably.

"Really?" HIro asks, looking at him almost in disbelief.

"Yup," Tadashi agrees with a small smirk. "He can lift a _thousand_ pounds."

"Shut. Up," Hiro breathes, feeling in that moment totally and completely in awe of the other man who had made probably the coolest thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

"You have been a good boy," Baymax chirps, taking a small red piece of candy that his carrying case had spit out and offering it to the teen. "Have a lollipop."

"Nice!" Hiro grins and accepts it-it was even strawberry, his favorite flavor! Was that a coincidence, or was the robot really that good?

"I cannot deactivate until say you are satisfied with your care," Baymax tells the boy.

"Well then, I am satisfied with my care!" Hiro answers with a small grin.

"He's going to help a lot of people," Tadashi says, almost looking like a proud parent as the robot heads back to its case and deflates.

"Hey, what kind of battery does he use?" Hiro asks curiously.

"Lithium ion," Tadashi replies.

"Y'know, supercapacitors would charge way faster," the younger teen remarks.

"Huh-I just might have to try that," Tadashi says thoughtfully before asking, "So, what do you think?"

"Of him? He's amazing!" Hiro declares.

"Thank you," Tadashi chuckles. "But I meant of this place as a whole-the Nerd Lab."

"It's also completely amazing," Hiro agrees with a grin. "I feel like I could stay here forever!"

"Then why don't you?"

Hiro feels himself freezing slightly at the older man's words. "W-What?"

"Hiro, c'mon." Tadashi gently takes his hands in his own. "We both know how happy you are here. Just think of everything you could do if you came to live with us-you could invent all day and all night if you wanted to, and you'd be surrounded by people who actually care about you! We'd finally be a family again!"

"I-I have a family," Hiro answers, something going cold inside of his chest as he withdraws his hand from the older man's. "Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho."

"Hiro, they don't treat you like family!" Tadashi cries, his usually cheerful expression clouding over, a fierce scowl replacing his hopeful smile. "They barely even acknowledge your existence! I've seen what it's like for you there-they're never around, and when they are they're just constantly riding you to do more, to achieve something else! Where the hell were they at the Expo, huh?"

"T-They were at a conference!" Hiro protests.

"How many 'conferences' have they gone to and in so doing missed an important milestone in your life?" Tadashi snaps, taking hold of the younger boy's hand again. "They weren't there at the Expo, one of the biggest things that's probably ever happened to you, but guess who was? Me! And if I'd known where you were, I would have been at every other one of those important milestones too! They don't love you, Hiro, but I do! You belong here with me and the rest of your _real_ family!"

"I… I…" Hiro wasn't even sure what to say, staring up at the older man with wide, scared eyes. It wasn't the yelling or the fact that Tadashi was telling him that the Takachicho's didn't really love him-he'd known that for years and given up trying to pretend otherwise. But what was actually scaring him the fact that Tadashi was claiming that he did, and Hiro had no idea how to respond to that. No one in his life had ever really shown any sign of caring about, let alone loving him. Tadashi didn't really know anything about him except for the fact that they were related, and yet here he was saying that he _loved_ him? Maybe it wouldn't have been so terrifying if thought that the other guy was faking it, but something about his tone, his expression, the very way he looked at Hiro that told him that his brother truly meant what he said with all of his heart. And the idea of opening himself up to something like that-to allow himself to be loved only to risk having his fragile heart shattered if it turned out to be false-was something he just couldn't face.

"I-I have to go," Hiro whispers.

"What? Go where?" Tadashi asks, expression instantly morphing to one of concern.

"Just-go. I'm sorry," Hiro answers, yanking his hand away before blindly racing out of the office and towards the stairs.

"Hiro? Hiro!"

The teen doesn't look back-he knew that if he did, then he wouldn't be able to actually go through with this, and he had to get out of here before he could be sucked in for good. He stumbles up the first flight of stairs and then the second one-he just needed to get his backpack out of Tadashi's room and then he'd take a trolley to the bay. He wasn't sure how he'd get to the island from there, but he'd figure something out.

He was almost at Tadashi's room when suddenly a door flies open and he has to skid to a stop or risk faceplanting right into the thick slab of wood.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" GoGo asks, raising an eyebrow at him-it turned out that it was her door that had opened.

"Not that it's any of your business, but you'll be happy to hear that I'm leaving," Hiro answers tersely.

"Leaving?" GoGo's snark and sarcasm falters, a genuinely confused look crossing her face. "Why are you leaving?"

"I-I can't stay here…" Hiro whispers, hating feeling like he was about to cry. "N-Not after…"

"What happened?" GoGo asks with a tiny smirk. "Finally got a little too freaked out by all the nutjobs in this place?"

"N-No…" Hiro stammers. "T-Tadashi… S-Said that he l-loves me…"

"And that's a bad thing?" GoGo asks, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I-I j-just… N-No one…. C-Can care about m-me l-like that…" Hiro mumbles, visibly shaking.

"Oh, kid…" GoGo lets out a sigh so loud that it actually ruffled her bangs. "You've got some major issues."

"E-Excuse me?" Hiro couldn't help but feel slightly offended by that.

"Just… Come with me," GoGo quietly growls. "I may not care about you, but I do care about Tadashi, and I don't want to see how he'll react if you do actually leave."

Before he could even protest, GoGo was dragging him into her room (she was surprisingly strong for her size) and slamming the door behind them. Hiro's brain vaguely picks up on the rather dark interior, the many rock band posters on the walls, before he's suddenly shoved into a seated position on the bed.

"Stay," she says when he starts trying to stand up, and something about her tone keeps him seated.

"All right… How do I even begin?" GoGo sighs, shaking her head slightly. "I can't believe I'm the one of all people doing this…" she mumbles, seeming to be talking to herself before suddenly rounding on the younger teen. "Okay, let me guess. You grew up in a home with parents who were constantly pushing you to be this 'perfect' child, someone they could be proud of and show off to all their friends, but as soon as there was no one to impress, it was like you didn't even exist, right?"

"H-How-?" Hiro stammers.

"'Cause that was my home-that's how I lived up until the night of that damn party," GoGo answers, cutting him off. "I thought that there must be something wrong with me, that there was a reason my parents didn't love me-that no one could love me. And then I came here, where Aunt Cass and everyone else said they cared about me, but I'd been so hurt by then that I refused to let myself get 'drawn in'-I pushed everyone away because I was so sure that no one could ever love me and that I could never love anyone else."

Hiro felt his breath catching in his throat. Someone actually understood how he felt?

"H-How did you…?" he starts to ask shakily.

"It took me a lot of time, but eventually I realized that they were all going to keep loving me no matter how hard I pushed them away, so finally I just gave in and let them love me," GoGo answers, cracking just a tiny bit of a smile in spite of herself. "It still wasn't easy-it took me a while before I could actually fully accept that they loved me like they did and even longer to start feeling like I could love myself, let alone them. But eventually I did. And I just wish I hadn't wasted so much time pushing them away. So, what I'm trying to say is-I don't like you, but I am telling you not to make my mistakes. Be mad at your fucked up parents-be as freaking mad as you need to be for as long as you have to. But don't punish yourself and the people who actually care about you because of what they did. The best 'fuck you' you can give them is to allow yourself to be loved by safe people who genuinely do care about you. And if there's one person in the whole world you can count on to actually love you the way a family is supposed to? It's Tadashi. Trust me-there isn't an evil bone in his body, and he will care about you no matter how many stupid, bone headed things you do. Believe me, I've tested every limit, and he's never loved me any less."  
As Hiro silently nods, he finds himself shaking, and was even more surprised to find that there were tears running down his cheeks. "T-Thank you," he finally manages to get out in a quiet whisper.

"You're...welcome," GoGo answers, standing there as if unsure what to do next before awkwardly patting him on the back. Within moments her snark returns. "C'mon, stop getting snot on my bed-get out of here and go find that idiot brother of yours and stop giving him a heart attack by making him think that you're running away before I throw you out of here by your collar."

"'K-Kay," Hiro agrees, giving her a somewhat watery smile as he makes his wobbly way to his feet-he wasn't even sure he could walk at the moment, but some way or another he manages to make his way to the door.

For a moment GoGo oddly enough softens again, giving him a small smile, before opening the door and practically shoving him out into the hallway.

Hiro didn't have to go far to find Tadashi-it turned out that his brother was currently searching the upstairs hallway, looking absolutely panicked as he goes from room to room. When he finally turns and sees the younger boy standing in the middle of the hall, his entire face seems to absolutely light up with relief as he races towards the teen.

"Hiro! Oh my gosh, Hiro, I thought you'd already gone!" he cries, sinking to his knees and wrapping his arms around the boy's waist. "I-I'm so sorry, this is all my fault! I shouldn't have pushed you like that! Please, give me another chance, I swear I won't-H-Hiro, are you crying?"

Hiro finds himself wrapping his arms around the other man, tears still streaming from his eyes as he buries his face in his shoulder.

"Otouto, what's wrong?" Tadashi asks, gently pulling him closer. "Whatever it is, let me fix it, please! I'd do anything to make you happy again…"

"N-Nii-chan," Hiro whispers, curling up against him and, after a great deal of effort, finally, _finally_ allowing himself to relax just the tiniest bit into the embrace.

"W-What did you just call me…?" Tadashi whispers shakily.

"Nii-chan," Hiro repeats, wrapping his arms tighter around him. "I-I'm so sorry…"

"Hiro-Oh, otouto, no, don't apologize," Tadashi answers, his voice a gentle coo mixed with slight disbelief, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "W-We both did some things we regret," he finally says, pulling away ever so slightly so that he could look the younger boy in the eyes. "But now we're going to do our best to fix them, okay? Because that's what family does."

"O-Okay," Hiro agrees with a shaky smile and a nod.

"Good." Tadashi pulls him back in for another tight hug. "I love you so much…"

It was still hard to accept that, and it probably would be for a long time, but Hiro finally manages to get out, "I-I know…"


	7. Chapter 7

After wiping Hiro's tears away and getting him some kleenex to blow his nose with, the teen's minor freakout in the garage wasn't mentioned again. Tadashi was obviously scared of setting him off and also trying to be a sensitive older sibling, and so he chose to not try to discuss it unless the younger boy brought it up first, something Hiro wasn't going to complain about in the least. Maybe someday he'd be ready to have that conversation, but definitely not today. Accepting the hug had been a start, though, and he felt cautiously optimistic that maybe this could be the beginning of something good-really good, even.

Still, having cried more in those five minutes with GoGo and then out in the hallway than he had in probably his entire life, Hiro honestly feels exhausted-physically and emotionally-and he isn't at all averse to Tadashi's suggestion that they settle down with the others in the living room for a movie marathon. Of course, then it's discovered that Hiro has actually mainly just seen educational documentaries over the course of his life (his adopted parents deeming regular movies "frivolous" and "mind rotting") and for a few minutes the teen is seriously afraid that his newfound family is going to form a lynch mob in protest. To his relief, all plans for avenging him are quickly dropped in favor of just giving him a proper movie education to make up for it-a "movication", as Fred so aptly names it. Each of the others is allowed to choose one movie, and Hiro quickly discovers just how much of nerds they really are based on their choices. Fred choses the first _Harry Potter_ , Honey Lemon opts for _The Princess Bride_ , and Wasabi is insistent that Hiro needs to see at least Episode Four of _Star Wars_ (he lobbies for just having a full Star Wars marathon, but is voted down in favor of diversity, the others saying that Hiro has plenty of time to watch all of the Star Wars movies and TV shows but deserves to have a broader scope of genres given this is his first real exposure to films.) Fred jokingly tells Tadashi that he has to choose _Fellowship of the Ring_ in order to round things out, but instead the older man chooses _Lilo and Stitch_ , saying that Hiro not only needs to be introduced to the magic of Disney but that it had been his favorite movie as a kid and he deserves to be reintroduced to it since the teen admits to only barely remembering bits and pieces. No one could argue with something that adorable, and so they have their queue of movies that ends up lasting them through the afternoon and well into the evening since, as nerds, they have to pause for snack breaks and arguing over fan theories as well as watching bonus features. Hiro feels slightly overwhelmed by it all, but he enjoys it all the same. He didn't really know how to join in on the playful banter and arguments, but he watches the movies intently in hopes that soon enough he'll actually be able to contribute to the discourse.

As amazing as all of the first three movies were, Hiro can't help but admit that _Lilo and Stitch_ is definitely his favorite. Maybe it was that, by the time they reached it, Aunt Cass had closed the cafe for the evening and had joined them so the whole family was together (well, except GoGo, who was still grounded to her room.) Maybe it was the warm, happy feeling that the teen felt as vague, blurry memories of his early childhood floated through his subconscious, reminding him of happier times and making him hopeful that maybe he could experience something like them again. Or maybe it was just the magic of Disney and the adorable fluffy blue alien who was as much an outcast among the humans he'd landed among as Hiro is among his Ordinary peers, but both of whom had managed to find family in the most unexpected of places. Whatever it was, the raven-haired teen found himself contentedly curling up against his older brother as the movie played, and the older man seemed only too happy to accommodate him.

Hiro must have fallen asleep during the credits because he remembered seeing the end of the movie but by the time he opens his eyes again they were back on the film's main menu and Tadashi is gently shaking him awake.

"Otouto?" the older man says softly. "Hiro, I hate to do this, but you need to wake up."

"Whyzat?" Hiro mumbles, all of his words slurring together.

"It's getting pretty late, and I have to get you home," Tadashi answers gently, if a bit regretfully.

"Home?" Hiro asks, his brain still slightly fuzzy but gradually becoming more alert.

"Yeah," Tadashi says softly. "I mean, if Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho get back and find out that you're not home, they'll totally freak-"

"I'm already home." The words slip out before Hiro can even think about them, but, as soon as he's said them, he knows that they're true.

"Hiro, I know you're pretty out of it, but you're not back at their house-" Tadashi tells him with a sympathetic smile, misunderstanding his meaning.

"No." Hiro shakes his head firmly before repeating, "this _is_ my home-the Cafe, here with all of you guys."

"O-Otouto…" Tadashi's eyes go wide, and the others all learn forward eagerly. "D-Do you mean…?"

"Yeah." Hiro flashes him and the rest of his new family a shy but firm grin. "I-I want to stay here, if that's okay with all of you."

"Okay? Hiro, of course it's okay!" Tadashi cries, throwing his arms around him in an ecstatic hug.

"Oh my goodness, I can't believe it!" Aunt Cass hurries over to join the hug. "All of my babies are going to be here!"

Hiro would have resented being called a "baby" by anyone else, but somehow he knew that his aunt meant it only in the very sweetest and most caring of ways and so he doesn't argue, just allowing himself to be hugged on by all of these people who apparently cared about him so much.

"We'll get on setting you up a new room right away!" Aunt Cass tells him when she finally lets go enough to let him breathe a bit, even if Tadashi still had him in an almost crushing bear hug. "Thank goodness this old place used to be an inn and has plenty of rooms! We'll still have to get you a new bed and furniture as soon as possible-tomorrow, hopefully-and then I'm sure we can all help you with decorating-"

"Aunt Cass, calm down-or at least stop and take a breath," Tadashi tells her with a wry chuckle. "Let the poor kid have a chance to think!"

"Right, sorry," Aunt Cass answers with an apologetic smile. "I'm just so excited!"

"Me too," Hiro admits with a small smile-honestly, the more he thought about it, the more he couldn't wait to move in here!

"But what about Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho?" Tadashi finally asks quietly. "We have your birth certificate and enough documentation to prove that we're your real family, but are you really going to be okay leaving them like this?"

"If they really care about me, then they'll want me to be where I'm happiest," Hiro replies after thinking over his brother's words for a minute. "And if they're not, well, that shows what kind of people they really are. I mean, if they do accept me the way I am, they can come visit me or I can go for short visits, right?"

"Uh…" Tadashi and Aunt Cass trade slightly concerned looks, but then the older Hamada boy nods his head and says firmly, "Absolutely. Whatever it takes to make you as happy as possible."

"Thanks, Dashi," Hiro says, giving him a grateful smile.

"You're welcome," Tadashi answers with a warm smile of his own before frowning slightly in concentration. "Still, that doesn't exactly cover tonight-we need to get your back there before they notice that you're gone, right?"

"Actually, they're gone until tomorrow afternoon, so we're good!" Hiro reassures him.

"Really?" Tadashi asks, blinking in surprise before asking slowly, "Just how often do they leave you alone in the house for extended periods of time?"

"Well, sometimes they take me with them to the conferences…" Hiro mumbles, refusing to meet his gaze.

"That's… Okay, I promised myself that I won't get worked up again today, so I'm going to hold my tongue," Tadashi says in a rather stilted voice.

"Probably a good thing, love. Any more emotional flare ups today and I'm afraid you're going to manage to burn through those gloves-they're meant to be fireproof, but even they can only withstand so much heat," Fred says, gently patting his arm before turning to the younger boy. "So, you're going to be living with us-that's so awesome! It'll be like having a little brother!"

"Only you're dating my brother, so wouldn't that be kind of weird if I was your little brother too?" Hiro points out a bit awkwardly.

"...Point taken," Fred agrees with a wry smile. "Brother-In-Law?"

"That works," Hiro answers with a small chuckle.

"I'm not dating him, so you can be my little brother!" Honey Lemon declares, coming over to enthusiastically hug him and then kiss him on both cheeks.

"I-I guess so…" Hiro agrees, flushing slightly.

"And mine too, little man," Wasabi chuckles, coming over to gently ruffle his hair.

"Hey! I'm not little!" Hiro protests, giving him a playful scowl.

"Compared to the rest of us? You kind of are," Fred points out.

"Not fair! How come I'm stuck being the tiny one in the land of giants?" Hiro playfully huffs, finding himself enjoying the banter.

"I think you got the genes from my side of the family, kiddo," Aunt Cass tells him, sympathetically patting his shoulder. "Me and your mom were always on the short side too."

"Mom and Dad…" Hiro says softly, the truth that he'd apparently had real, loving parents at some point hitting him a bit hard. "D-Do you guys have any pictures of them?"

"We do," Tadashi agrees, gently squeezing his hand. "We have some old photo albums, but their picture is over here on the wall." He helps Hiro to his feet and leads him over to the staircase where a virtual timeline of framed photos were hung.

"Wow…" Hiro whispers when Tadashi directs his attention to a family portrait-two adults he could only assume were their parents (Mrs. Hamada quite pregnant with Hiro) and a very young Tadashi.

"You look a lot like our dad," the younger teen says to the older man.

"Thanks." Tadashi offers him a slightly sad smile. "But you've got the Hamada hair and eyes too."

"So that's why my hair always sticks up like this?" Hiro asks with a playful smile, trying to keep the mood light.

"Oh yeah, if I didn't keep mine this short it would be the same way," Tadashi laughs.

"You should try growing it out!" Hiro declares. "I think you'd look awesome-kind of punk!"

"I don't think 'punk' and I belong in the same sentence, or even paragraph, but thanks for the vote of confidence," Tadashi chuckles, and the younger boy was glad to see him smiling again-sad looks and frowns just didn't look right on the older man, he seemed like someone who deserved to be happy after everything he'd been through.

"So, back to business," Tadashi suddenly says, startling the teen out of his thoughts, "when are Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho getting back tomorrow?"

"Uh… Probably around five-ish, as long as their flight isn't delayed?" Hiro answers.

"Good." Tadashi nods. "That will give us plenty of time to go over there in the morning and get you packed."

As much as Hiro hoped that needing to have all his things packed and ready to move in case things went south with his adopted parents when he tried to explain things to them wasn't necessary, he knew that there was a possibility that it might be a rather turbulent parting and so he just nods in response.

"I can come with and help transport the stuff back as you pack it," Abigail offers.

"That would be perfect, thank you," Tadashi tells her with a grateful smile.

"You guys think you'll need any other help?" Fred asks.

"We're more than happy to all come with!" Honey Lemon agrees.

"Oh, wow-Um, t-thanks guys, I appreciate the offer…" Hiro says, not sure how to turn down their offer of goodwill without sounding completely rude.

"But if his adopted parents come home and find a bunch of strangers in their house, they'll probably call the cops on us," Tadashi puts in, saving him from the awkward explanation. "It's probably best if it's just me there by the time they arrive."

"Understood," Fred says with a firm nod.

"Of course-we wouldn't want to get Hiro in any trouble!" Honey Lemon agrees.

"Well, I'm probably going to be in trouble enough running off to go live with the X-Men, practically, but yeah, keeping the police out of it would be good," Hiro says with a wry smile.

"Ooh, X-Men! So you do know some nerd stuff!" Fred eagerly cries.

"I'd sneak some comics at the library, yeah," Hiro admits.

"What all did you rea-"

"Fred." Tadashi puts a gentle but warning hand on his boyfriend's shoulder. "I know you love your comics, but we're supposed to be helping Hiro wind down so he can get to bed and get some rest in before tomorrow, not keep him up all night talking about favorite superheroes."

"Right, right, sorry!" Fred apologizes. "Carry on!"

"Come on." Tadashi chuckles as he notices that, hard as he was trying to stay awake, the younger teen was starting to sway on his feet. "Want me to carry you up?"

"No, I can walk!" Hiro protests stubbornly.

"Okay then," Tadashi says, smirking slightly and obviously just patronizing him. "At least say goodnight to everyone, Hiro."

"'Night…" Hiro waves vaguely to the others before starting to make his way up the stairs-damn, he needed to find a way to stop getting so tired right before bedtime, this wasn't like him! Unless maybe Tadashi had some sort of magical powers that were making him this tired... He'd have to think about that when he was more awake-for now he just really wanted to curl up under the covers and sleep.

Even though Tadashi was following him the entire time, ready to help him if he stumbled, Hiro stubbornly keeps climbing, finally reaching the top of the stairs and then following the wall until he reaches the door to Tadashi's room.

"At least let me tuck you in?" Tadashi says as the younger boy makes his way over to the bed, kicking his tennis shoes before gratefully climbing up onto the soft mattress.

"Fine…" Hiro sighs, allowing his brother to pull the blankets up over him and gently tuck them in around him. He was way too old to be tucked in, he knew, but his adopted parents had never really been ones to be sentimental about bedtime. They just made sure he was in bed and then turned the lights off-no goodnight kisses or stories or checking under the bed and in the closet for monsters. As it was, it felt pretty nice having someone making a fuss over him like this.

"You going to be okay?" Tadashi asks gently.

"Think so…" Hiro answers with a loud yawn.  
"All right then." Tadashi gently pecks his forehead before brushing back the teen's shaggy bangs, soft orange specks falling from his gloves.

"Y-You're doing this, aren't you?" Hiro says, giving him a disapproving glare.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tadashi answers with an innocent smile.

"Yes you do…" Hiro grumbles, but he felt too relaxed to really be able to argue.

"It'll give you a good, dreamless sleep," Tadashi finally admits with a soft smile. "I know how hard it can be trying to sleep in a new place when there's so much going on."

"F-Fine…" Hiro yawns again before saying sternly, "N-No more after tonight w-without me asking, okay?"

"Okay," Tadashi agrees gently-the younger teen wasn't sure he'd keep his word, but if he talked to Aunt Cass hopefully she'd make sure that he did.

"You just get some rest in, okay?" the older man continues, starting to stand up. "You'll need all your energy for tomorrow."

"W-Wait!" As Tadashi starts to move away, Hiro finds himself growing slightly more alert, and, embarrassing as it was for a teenager, he suddenly found that he didn't want to be left alone. Maybe it was everything that he knew was probably going to happen tomorrow or actually trying to fall asleep in a strange bedroom, like Tadashi had said, but suddenly the shadows on the walls were starting to stretch into the creatures from his childhood nightmares.

"You okay?" Tadashi asks, seeming slightly concerned.

"J-Just… Can you stay? Until I fall asleep?" Hiro mumbles, cheeks flushing pink-wow, he probably sounded like a complete wimp right now.

But instead of making fun of him, Tadashi gives him an understanding smile and answers, "Of course. Just lie back, okay?"

"'Kay," Hiro agrees, settling back more comfortably against the pillows.

"All right-now close your eyes," Tadashi instructs, and the younger boy does so, feeling a sense of warmth and wellbeing flooding through him as the older man's hand comes to rest on his forehead and Tadashi starts to sing in a low, soft voice.

"H-How are you doing that?" Hiro mumbles, just barely managing to get his increasingly heavy eyelids open.

"Shamans and healers have used different fires for their purposes over the years-to bring health, prosperity and, yes, sleep," Tadashi chuckles quietly. "I've learned how to tap into that-it's pretty useful."

"Feels good…" Hiro mumbles, contentedly nuzzling into the older man as he finally gives up the fight and lets his eyelids slide shut.

"I'm glad," Tadashi says with a warm smile. "Sleep well, otouto."

"Mm…" Hiro answers. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was the warmth of his brother's presence and the gentle sound of his singing.


	8. Chapter 8

Hiro awoke the next morning to someone gently shaking him by the shoulder.

"Hiro? Hiro, c'mon, time to wake up."

"No…" Hiro mumbles, pulling the blankets tighter around him. "Wanna sleep…"

"I know you do, otouto, but you need to get up-we have a lot to do today, remember?"

"Don' care…" Hiro grumbles, squeezing his eyes stubbornly shut.

"Hiro, either you can get out of bed or I will be forced to take more extreme measures."

"Sure…" Despite yesterday's close call with the fire before meeting Baymax, Hiro is pretty sure that his brother was incapable of ever physically harming him in the name of a prank or even to prove a point. That is, he is until he suddenly finds the blankets being ripped off of him and two hands closing around his ankles, suddenly swinging him upside down so fast that his shirt falls down to cover his face and he has to claw it away before demanding,

"Dude, what the hell?!"

"You didn't want to get up on your own, so I'm just helping you!" Tadashi answers mischievously, and the younger teen can tell that he's smirking even if he can't see his facial expression from his current vantage point.

"Okay, okay, you proved your point, now let me go!" Hiro cries.

"Nope! You'll just go right back to bed, and we can't have that!" Tadashi answers, to the younger boy's slight horror starting to carry him towards the door.

"So what, you're going to carry me down to breakfast?"

"That's kind of the plan!"

"...What happened to the nice older brother I met yesterday?!"

"Same guy, but you'll find that I'm willing to do what I have to to get results."

"So yesterday was all a lie? You were just trying to convince me to stay here, but now that I am you're showing your true colors?" Hiro playfully huffs.

"You've had your one day grace period, little bro-now you're getting to experience what it's like living here as a full-fledged member of the family!"

"Rude! What if I decide I don't want to stay here now and I want to go back to my adopted family?"

"You won't."

"And why's that?"

"Because," Tadashi answers playfully, swinging Hiro so that he was up in his arms instead of dangling, "you're my little bro and, complain all you want, you know you love me!"

Hiro scoffs at that, but, as he allows the older man to carry him down the stairs (not that he had much of a choice), he can't help but mull over his words. He didn't know much about love-familial or otherwise-but he knew that he did feel something of a warm pull in his chest towards his brother that kept him from really getting angry at him, even when he was teasing him like this. He didn't know if that counted as love, or if he'd even known him for long enough to be capable of loving him yet, but it did feel nice, and he decides that maybe he'd just not think too much about it and see what happened.

"Thank you for riding Hamada Air," Tadashi announces playfully as they reach the kitchen, depositing Hiro into a chair at the table. "We hope that you enjoyed your flight and will consider us in the future for all your transportation needs!"

"You are a horrible brother," Hiro deadpans, doing his best to glare up at him.

"Would a horrible brother make you chocolate chip pancakes?" Tadashi answers with a slight smile.

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" Hiro asks, realizing too late that he sounded entirely too eager and quickly crossing his arms over his chest to try to cover for it.

"I'll take it you like them?" Tadashi replies with a tiny smirk as he goes to gather the ingredients, obviously not fooled.

"I've… Never had them," Hiro admits, sighing and giving up on trying to act annoyed. "I didn't even know that you could put chocolate chips into pancakes…"

"Well, Aunt Cass doesn't usually encourage it, but what she doesn't know for this morning can't hurt her, right?" Tadashi answers, giving him a playful wink.

"I guess not…" Hiro answers, his rumbling stomach telling him that he really shouldn't complain given chocolate for breakfast sounded pretty amazing right now. He still couldn't quite figure Tadashi out-one moment he was swinging him upside down by his ankles, the next he was making him an awesome breakfast. Was Tadashi slightly bipolar, or was this just something families did? His adopted parents never teased him like this, but they didn't really do stuff like fixing him special pancakes either. Someone showing so many emotions at once was confusing for the teen, but hopefully it was something he could get used to.

After a few minutes of silence in which Tadashi worked at measuring out ingredients and Hiro awkwardly swung his legs back and forth over the edge of the chair, the younger boy finally gets up to go to get a closer look at what his brother was doing-his adopted parents didn't cook that much, and when they did they didn't really like anyone else in the kitchen "getting in the way" while they worked, so he was kind of curious as to how this worked and he could only hope that the older man didn't mind him hovering.

"You want to help?" Tadashi asks with a warm smile when he notices him standing next to him.

"Can I?" Hiro replies, slightly surprised but not displeased by the offer.

"Sure!" Tadashi answers with a grin. "How about you stir while I add the ingredients?"

"Okay!" Hiro agrees, eagerly accepting the mixing spoon from him and starting to stir. He couldn't help but feel like his movements were a bit choppy and awkward at first, but then Tadashi's hands gently close around his own, helping him find his rhythm. Soon he felt like he was actually getting the hang of it and he beams up at his older brother who grins back down at him.

"See? You're getting it!" Tadashi says, sounding oddly enough proud of him.

"Really?" Hiro asks hopefully.

"Totally! We'll make a chef of you yet!" Tadashi declares with a warm chuckle, finally letting go so that he could add the remaining ingredients.

"That could be a useful skill," Hiro muses as he continues carefully stirring the batter. "I was never really allowed to cook at home…"

"What did they let you do?" Tadashi asks, sounding like he was trying to keep his tone casual but unable to hide a hint of disapproval or maybe even something a bit stronger. "I mean, it sounds like almost everything even remotely fun was banned."

"Well… You're not wrong," Hiro quietly sighs. "I mean… At least I did get to build my robots, so that was something. But otherwise it was doing homework or something else 'educational'-anything that could get me 'ahead'... They were always trying to prepare me for my future and growing up… A bit ironic, isn't it?"

"How so?" Tadashi asks, frowning slightly.

"I mean, coming here-I pretty much get to be a kid forever, right?" Hiro answers with a slight smile. "So all their worry about me growing up so fast was kind of for nothing."

"I guess so," Tadashi agrees with a small smile. "I think it'll be good for you-getting to finally get to be a kid for a bit, y'know? That doesn't mean that, if you ever feel like you're tired of being fourteen, that you can't leave the Loop for a bit and age up. I mean, you wouldn't want to wait too long to do it depending on how old you think you'd want to end up as-eighteen or nineteen would probably be good so you'd be the same age as the rest of us. But you don't have to think about that for a while yet, so just getting to enjoy being a teenager is probably a really good thing for you after everything you've been through."

"Yeah," Hiro agrees. He honestly hadn't thought too much about the aging thing. Maybe someday he might want to actually get a little older like Tadashi had suggested. But, for the moment, staying fourteen years old and just enjoying being with his new family sounded like absolute paradise.

Not too long after Tadashi had started pouring small pools of batter onto a countertop griddle and the delicious smell of cooking pancakes begins to waft through the kitchen, Abigail appears in the doorway as if summoned by their fragrance.

"Nice of you to show up _after_ we did all the hard work!" Tadashi tells her with a playful scowl.

"Yeah, yeah," Abigail replies, rolling her eyes as she takes a seat at that table. "You seem to forget that I'm the one who's going to be doing all sorts of teleporting today-I needed my sleep so that I'll have plenty of energy!"

"Sure you weren't just trying to get your beauty sleep in?" Tadashi tosses back, raising an eyebrow.

"Beauty sleep, nothing! I can stay up all night and still look this amazing! You, on the other hand, can sleep for an entire day and still look like a total dork!" Abigail replies with a small smirk.

"Ha ha, hilarious." Tadashi rolls his eyes at her. "See if I give you any of these pancakes if you're going to treat me like that!"

"No pancakes, no transportation," Abigail answers calmly. "Think your choices over carefully, Hamada."

"...You drive a hard bargain," Tadashi states after thinking that over for a moment.

"It's a gift," Abigail replies with a tiny shrug. "Now get cooking!"

"The pancakes are cooking as fast as they're going to cook!"

"Mm… Nope, not fast enough!"

"Well, I'd use my fire but you remember what happened the _last_ time I did that…"

"Ooh, yeah, point taken… Okay, fine, I guess I can wait, then…"

"What happened last time?" Hiro asks curiously-he wasn't sure how serious Tadashi and Abigail's "arguing" was, but he had to admit that it was kind of fun to watch all the same.

"Bad things. Very bad things," Abigail states, her expression going momentarily serious.

"It wasn't _that_ bad!" Tadashi protests.

"We were cleaning up broccoli and cheese for a week and it smelled like feet in here for over a month! Yeah, it was!" Abigail tosses back.

Tadashi lets out a small grumble before lifting the first pancakes off of the griddle and onto a plate. "Here." He gently pushes it into Hiro's hands. "You get started on those, and if you're still hungry after that then you can get some more, okay?"

"You sure it's okay for me to eat first?" Hiro asks a bit uncertainly.

"Yeah, why does he get the first pancakes?" Abigail cries, and it was hard for the younger teen to tell if she was just joking around or being serious.

"Because he actually helped make them, _and_ he's never had chocolate chip pancakes before," Tadashi replies firmly.

"...All right, fair enough," Abigail finally says with a small shrug. "But I get the next ones!"

"Of course you do," Tadashi replies, sighing and shaking his head but smiling slightly all the same.

Hiro honestly wasn't sure what to expect-he didn't know how well pancake batter and chocolate chips would actually mix-but when the first sweet, fluffy bite of pastry is in his mouth he lets out a quiet moan of contentment.

"Good?" Tadashi asks with a hopeful smile.

"Better than good-probably the best thing I've ever tasted!" Hiro replies, eagerly taking another bite.

"I'm glad you think so!" Tadashi chuckles, seeming pleased as he watches his younger sibling eagerly work away at the food.

"Be careful not to compliment him too much-he'll get a bigger head than he already has!" Abigail states with a tiny smirk.

"Will you be quiet and just let him enjoy his breakfast?" Tadashi flashes her another tiny glare.

"Hm… How about 'no'?"

"You're impossible, you know that?"

"Yeah, but you know you still love me!"

"Yes, yes I do, _nee-chan_ ," Tadashi replies with a quiet chuckle.

"Nee-chan?" Hiro asks curiously, finding himself oddly enjoying their banter now that he had a pretty good idea that it was all meant to be harmless.

"It's Japanese for 'older sister'," Tadashi explains as he bring a plate of pancakes over to Abigail. "Since everyone's like a family here, I just call them all by their Japanese names-Wasabi's my nii-chan since he's older than me, and GoGo and HL are my _imouto'_ s. Fred… Oddly enough I never really called him by a sibling name, he was always more like a best friend than anything-probably a good thing, it would have been awkward if I'd been calling him 'brother' all those years only for us to end up dating…"

"That would have been pretty weird, yeah," Abigail agrees, making a face before happily starting in on her pancakes.

"So I'm your only otouto?" Hiro asks, finding that he was oddly enough slightly possessive of that title now.

"Yes," Tadashi reassures him with a slight smile, as if reading his thoughts. "You are and always will be my one and only otouto."

"Good." Hiro knows that he's grinning in spite of himself but he can't bring himself to care.

"Now you get eating those pancakes before they get cold!" Tadashi tells him firmly, trying to appear stern but with a hint of a smile twitching at the edge of his lips.

"Yes, nii-chan," Hiro answers, playfully sticking his tongue out at him before doing as instructed. Play arguing-who knew if could be so much fun? It was kind of nice knowing that it was just a way they could all show how much they cared about each other while still being able to air their grievances. If this was something that siblings did, he could definitely learn to live with it!

Not too long after the last of the pancakes were made and eaten, Tadashi stands up from the table and announces that it's probably time to get going.

"The more time we have to get everything packed, the better," he says when Abigail starts mildly complaining about how early it still was.

"Fine, fine!" she sighs, standing up from the table. "Let's get going, then-the sooner we do this, the sooner we can get back."

"You sure you're going to be okay doing this?" Tadashi asks gently when he sees the slightly deer-in-the-headlights expression on Hiro's face.

"I'm… fine," the younger boy answers even though his heart was hammering slightly in his chest. He was doing this-he was actually doing this.

"If it would be easier, you know we could just pack your things for you and bring them back here," Tadashi says, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You don't ever have to go back there if you don't want to."

"N-No." Hiro shakes his head, hoping to clear away some of his fear and anxiety. "T-They weren't the best parents in the world, but they were my parents. I owe them a goodbye, at least. If nothing else, I need a chance to say goodbye and officially cut ties with that place, y'know?"

"Of course." Tadashi gently squeezes his shoulder. "Whatever you need to do. Just let me know if it starts to get to be too much or if you need anything, okay? I'm here for you."

"Thanks, nii-chan." Hiro flashes him a grateful smile before taking a deep breath and saying, "Okay, let's do this."

The trip back to the house, except for the whole teleporting thing, was oddly benign. So was actually going into the house and starting to pack things-it almost didn't feel real, in a way, more like being in a dream, and in a way Hiro was almost glad that's how it was. Maybe it was the fact that he'd been taught in this house to always suppress his emotions or that his brain was refusing to accept the truth of what was happening that was causing him to just feel slightly numb. Any nervous energy that he might have been experiencing was channeled into carefully packing his belongings into cardboard boxes which Abigail in turn would transport back to the Loop entrance and then to the Cafe. Tadashi helped with the packing as much as he could, but, at least in the bedroom, it was hard for him to know what was important and what could just be thrown away and so that was mainly left up to the younger teen. The garage, which they tackled after lunch, was easier-most of what was out there was already neatly packed into storage containers or were pieces of equipment that could be moved as singular units. Abigail was honestly pretty exhausted by the time they were finally done, and, given they had a little bit of time before the Takachichos were supposed to be home Tadashi tells her to head back to the Cafe to rest before coming back to pick them up around 5:30-hopefully that would be enough time to have everything settled. Hiro, seeing how much all the moving had taken out of her, thanks her for her help so many times that she finally has to force him to stop, reminding him that if he kept her there then she wouldn't be able to actually rest before coming back to pick them up. That was enough to finally get him to leave off, and, with a friendly wave, she's gone, leaving the two brothers standing alone in the living room.

"So-you doing okay?" Tadashi asks softly.

"Yeah," Hiro agrees, trying not to let on just how nervous he was.

"I know it must be pretty hard leaving the home you grew up in," Tadashi starts gently, but Hiro shakes his head to cut him off.

"No, it's not that. Honestly, this place never really felt like what I've heard home is supposed to feel like-not like the Cafe."  
"Then what is it?" Tadashi gently prompts.

"I just… I know Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho were never really 'loving parents' or whatever, but it's kind of hard to not want them to be proud of me, and somehow I get the feeling that going off to live in a house full of superheroes isn't going to be winning me any 'son of the year' awards…" Hiro mumbles.

"I'm so sorry," Tadashi say, laying a hand on his shoulder. "I can't imagine how tough that is. But I promise, I'm going to be right here for you, and no matter what happens I will always be proud of and love you."

"Thanks." Hiro flashes him a grateful smile before stiffening as he hears the sound of a key in the lock. "T-That must be them…"

"You've got this," Tadashi tells him, firmly squeezing before adding, " _We've_ got this."

Hiro nods in agreement before turning to focus on greeting his adopted parents-possibly for the last time.

"Hiro!" Mrs. Takachicho says as she comes in the door, looking slightly relieved to see the younger boy standing there. "Thank goodness you're alright! You weren't answering your phone all day yesterday and we were starting to get worried!"

"We know you get wrapped up in your work, but you should at least answer one of our texts," Mr. Takachicho adds with a bit of disapproval in his voice.

"Sorry guys," Hiro says, wincing. "I was a bit… distracted. But I'm fine, really!"

Mrs. Takachicho looks like she's about to answer when suddenly she realizes that her adopted son isn't the only one in the room. "Hiro, who is this?" she asks, her eyes narrowing slightly in suspicion.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho," Tadashi answers before Hiro can, surprising the younger boy by just how professional and even friendly he sounded-apparently acting was another skill the older man had that the teen didn't know about. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you. I'm Tadashi Hamada-Hiro's older brother."

"Brother? Hiro doesn't have a brother!" Mr. Takachicho answers, frowning in confusion.

"He does, actually, as well as an aunt," Tadashi replies. "And we've been trying to find him for a very long time-it wasn't until I saw him at the Expo that I even had any idea that he might still even be alive."

So, that's the story he was going with. They hadn't exactly discussed this beforehand, but Hiro decides to try to play along.  
"Yeah," he says with a nod. "He and Aunt Cass came up to me after my presentation because I had the same name as their brother/nephew who went missing and I looked a lot like him."

"We got talking and the dates for the kidnapping matched for when he was found," Tadashi quickly puts in. "We also took the liberty of having a gene test run, and I have Hiro's birth certificate right here. I think you'll find everything is in order." He pulls a sheaf of papers that Hiro hadn't even realized he had with him out of his blazer and hands it over. "And, in case you have any doubt that they're real, you'll find that they have been stamped with the county recorder's seal."

The two adults in the room silently shuffle through the papers, both looking slightly at a loss.

"So, what are you saying?" Mr. Takachicho finally asks, looking up from the papers. "That you're just going to take Hiro away?"

"Not take him away, no," Tadashi replies, shaking his head. "But we offered Hiro the choice, and he's decided that he would like to come live with us. If you want to, we'd still like you to be a part of Hiro's life, but you'll have to understand-"

"How. Dare you?"

Hiro flinches at the positive rage being directed not towards Tadashi, but at him, by his adopted parents.

"After everything we've done for you, how could you decide to just leave us like this?" Mrs. Takachicho spits.

"Done what?" Hiro answers, finding a bit of rebellious fire kindling to life in his chest. "Granted, you put a roof over my head and gave me food, and I'm grateful for that. But anything else? You never treated me like your son! I was just a show dog that you could show off to all of your friends! 'Oh, look at our little genius, he skipped five grades of school!' Did you ever think that maybe I wanted a normal life instead of constantly being put under the microscope like that?"

It wasn't until the loud sound reverberated in his ears that he realized that Mr. Takachicho had actually slapped him-he was in too much shock to actually be able to feel the sting, but he knew he probably would later.

"How dare you disrespect your mother like that?" Mr. Takachicho growls. "You will not speak to her like that in this house!"

Hiro found his will slightly crumbling, too scared to be able to reply, but suddenly Tadashi steps forward, the anger physically rolling off of him in waves of heat.

"How dare _you_ treat any child in you care like that?" he cries, and Hiro suddenly wasn't sure who of the adults in the room he was most scared of at the moment. "I've had my doubts about you for a very long time, but to see that you'd actually strike you adopted son for speaking his mind-"

"What do you mean 'for a long time'-have you been spying on us?" Mrs. Takachicho blanches.

"I've been keeping an eye on Hiro from a distance, yes," Tadashi quietly growls. "I let him live here as long as I did despite my concerns because I thought he'd be happier here. But after this, there is no way I am ever letting you even be in the same room as him!"

"You have no right! We will take this to court if we have to-" Mr. Takachicho starts.

"You will do no such thing! He is leaving with me right now, and he is _never_ coming back!" Tadashi shouts, and just then Hiro sees the one thing happening that Fred had said was possible but he'd never actually believed would ever happen-the fire in Tadashi's hands grew so hot that it literally burned through his gloves, causing the thick material to crumble away and leaving his bare hands literally glowing with heat.

"What- How-?" Mrs. Takachicho sputters, her eyes going wide with shock.

"He's a Peculiar," Hiro answers, finally finding his voice again and smiling proudly up at his elder sibling. "Like me. We're not normal, and my _real_ family accepts me for who I am, even if you guys never did. So I'm going to go live with them in a time loop and I will never have to take another intelligence test or prove to the world just how smart I am because they don't care-they want me just for being me, not because of what I can do and because they can show me off to all their friends."

Mr. and Mrs. Takachicho seemed at a loss for words, and even if they could have spoken the fact that there was a man who was literally on fire and probably looking like an avenging archangel standing protectively over the teen was probably enough to keep them from saying anything that might have come to mind. Hiro was just debating walking out the door just so he didn't have to stand here and look at them anymore when suddenly Abigail appears in the living room.

"Hey guys, how did it g-Holy shit, Tadashi, what happened to your gloves?" she cries, taking in the scene before her.

"Long story," Tadashi answers tersely.

"Can we please just go?" Hiro adds.

"I, um… Sure," Abigail agrees, still seeming somewhat confused but deciding not to ask any questions for the moment. "Tadashi, I think I'd better hold onto you than you holding onto me…"

"Understood." Tadashi nods curtly, never taking his eyes off of Hiro's adopted parents as if daring them to try to take Hiro away. They didn't seem in any condition to try to do anything, though-apparently having a girl appear out of thin into their living room on top of having a human fireball was too much for them. Still, as Hiro slips his hand into Abigail's free one, Mr. Takachicho manages to get out in a low voice,

"You're making a grave mistake, Hiro. Just think of everything you could have become, and you're throwing it away for these-freaks?"

"These 'freaks' are my family," Hiro answers. "And I'd much rather be with them and be loved than stay here for another minute."

And with that, they were gone-Abigail had them back outside the entrance to the Loop, and, for possibly the first time in his life, Hiro felt totally and completely free.

"Otouto, I'm sorry," Tadashi says after fishing a pair of fresh gloves out of his pocket-apparently his clothes were fireproof, which was probably a good thing given his powers. "For everything they did to you and if I did anything to make it worse…"

"No." Hiro shakes his head, finding himself oddly enough smiling. "They finally showed how they really felt about me, and I'm glad to be out of there. If they can't love me and you guys for who we are, then I don't need them in my life."

"You sure?" Tadashi asks, seeming slightly hesitant but also relieved.

"I'm sure." Hiro agrees, nodding firmly.

"Okay then… Is it alright if I hug you now?"

"Yeah. I'd like that, actually," Hiro answers, feeling warmth (both physical and emotional) flood through him as the older man wraps his arms tightly around him.

"Let's go home, huh?" Tadashi says softly in his ear when he finally lets him go.

"Yeah," Hiro agrees, grinning up at him. "Home." And, after all these years, he finally knew exactly what that felt like. His new family might be slightly eccentric and definitely peculiar, but so was he. And he wouldn't have it any other way.

0o0

Hey guys! So, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it! ^W^ Okay, so, announcement time: I have a huge backlog of fics that I haven't posted and if I kept posting them at one chapter a week it would take probably well over a year to get all of them out. So, that said: in celebration of the holiday break starting, I'm going to start trying to post a new chapter/fic every day to help whittle down my archive of unpublished fics! There are TONS of AU's to come, most Fredashi but a few cute Hezra ones in the mix too! I'm really excited to share these stories with you, and I hope you'll really enjoy all of them too! All the best to all of you who are finishing up the semester, especially if you have finals! See you soon!

~Dashi


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